The Diversity Of Art And Its Movements

What is considered art? Many have different opinions on this, but none more so than The Salon. The Salon was Paris’ art exhibition, started in 1667, that would exhibit many artists works, sculptures, paintings, etc. These showings would have rigorous rules on what could be shown by the artists, all art had to be works based on either religious themes or had a realistic depiction, like a painting of a scene of a garden, this is known as realism.

The Salon also forbade the depiction of loose brush work and nakedness, although nudity in certain works was fine, such as those that depict the goddess Venus, because nudity is seen as representing an aspect of that particular character while nakedness is viewed as shameful. These firm beliefs about what art should be didn't sit well with some painters, such as Claude Monet, who is famous for his impressionistic paintings.

In this essay I will discuss four works of art, Le Bonheur de Vivre by Henri Matisse, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso, Impression Sunrise by Claude Monet, and Paris: A Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte that each show how different art can be and why The Salon was wrong in it’s artistic assertions.

Henri Matisse, well known for his contributions to painting and sculpture, was also known for colorful paintings that didn't stick to realistic qualities, such as loose brushwork and extra colors, this way of painting was popular with the les Fauves, or the wild beasts, who praised the colorful loose brushwork and lack of realistic qualities. Matisse’s painting, Le Bonheur Vivre, or the Joy of Life, is regarded as one of the leading causes for the introduction of modernism, or the rejection of established artistic values in pursuit of more agreeable philosophies. Le Bonheur Vivre is an oil on canvas painting made between 1905 and 1906 that is currently located at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it depicts many naked figures that, at the time, caused controversy due to nakedness being considered shameful.

Matisse made Le Bonheur Vivre in response to those critics at The Salon, who treated his work harshly for not having the realistic tendencies or perfect brushwork of their standards. Matisse’s art has colorful, loose brushstrokes that go outside the lines most would establish and has no real scale, the people depicted don't get smaller the further away they are and instead forces the viewer to interact with the painting from different perspectives. This interaction with art is what makes Matisse’s painting famous, art being interacted with instead of just viewed allows the viewers to “enter” the painting to get a deeper understanding of it.

Pablo Picasso, known for his extensive efforts in many artistic fields, ceramics, sculpture, painting, etc, is also credited for helping co-found the Cubist movement, or use of three-dimensional imagery in a painting. Picasso had many different “periods” in his artistic life that were described as having a theme to them. One of Picasso’s most controversial and disturbing paintings, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, is described as such for its depiction of naked prostitutes with more masculine features than would otherwise be accepted at that time. The painting was made in 1907 and currently resides at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Picasso made this painting as a way to express African culture through the use of masks while also abandoning the use of three-dimensional imagery, leading to this painting being described as the predecessor to cubism.

Picasso made the women depicted in the painting disturbing through the way he painted them as disjointed and primitive. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was made near the end of the Rose period, otherwise known as when his art became more sexual in nature. African and Spanish culture, of which Picasso was native to, are both fused into Les Demoiselles and shows how the influence of other cultures can have a positive effect on people's lives. Claude Monet, a French painter best known as the founder of Impressionism, helped revolutionize painting through the continued practice of painting everyday scenes that left impressions, hence the name Impressionism.

Monet’s most famous painting, Impression, Sunrise, was made in 1872 and depicts a sunrise at the port of Monet’s hometown of Le Havre, France. Impression, Sunrise is famous because Impressionism was new and countered The Salon’s policies of having nice brushwork and precise details, the reason for this is because the painting is of one moment that is ever changing, so the painter must rush and not add the details most would expect, otherwise the scene would have changed and must be started over. This process opened the door for other artists that felt that The Salon’s policies on what was considered art were too strict for them, so they went with Impressionism. The 1870’s in France were a time of recuperation and industrialization, this can be seen in Monet’s painting when he shows the many smokestacks of factories and the steamboats trundling on the water.

Gustave Caillebotte, a painter who was a member of the Impressionists, but painted in a more realistic style, was most remembered for his painting, Paris: A Rainy Day. This painting was made in 1877 and currently resides at the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. Caillebotte painted the scene in north Paris and shows people walking along the street in the rain, the majority of which show the use of realism through Caillebotte’s technique, making the figures in the back more blurry and indistinct than the sharper, more detailed, people in the front.

Caillebotte was also fascinated with pictures, and even incorporated them in some ways into his art. This can be seen with the figure on the far right of the painting who is cut off, showing that they’re only in part of the frame like a photograph would show. Paris: A Rainy Day shows how an everyday scene in 1870’s Paris looked, the men wearing suits and top hats, the women wearing veils and dresses, even fur lined coats. This was typical of that time period but is extraordinary now since times have changed.

In conclusion these paintings and their artists are perfect embodiments of their times. First, Henri Matisse was a Fauvist who believed in perspective and interaction with art, thus establishing art as more accepting of unorthodox techniques and practices. Second, Pablo Picasso, co-founder of cubism and user of three-dimensional painting techniques, helped establish other cultures in this more modern society through the blended use of African masks and spanish techniques, highlighting how the world was developing at that time.

Next, Claude Monet, founder of Impressionism, helped challenge The Salon’s ideas of what was considered art through painting everyday scenes that left an impression, thus establishing that art can be whatever the artist needs it to be. Lastly, Gustave Caillebotte, member of the Impressionists, blended Impressionism with Realism and helped establish photograph like paintings as an artform. In the end all works of art should not be judged on if they are art, like how The Salon does, but instead be accepted as art because it's what people made that best expresses what they are trying to convey, is that not the very definition of art itself?