Strokes of Genius Neo & Post Impressionism 1886–1905

Arguably one of the first truly Avant Garde movements in Modern Art. With the advent of colour theory and founded in an environment of debate around the role of academic art in the late 19th century, Neo-Impressionism & Postimpressionism aimed to harmonise the goals of Impressionism. More deliberate colour blocking and pointillist techniques were utilised, along with further experimentation of colour and brush strokes, resulting in a movement creating an optical synthesis between the ideal and the essential.

“Harmony is the analogy of contrary and similar elements of tone, of colour, and of line, conditioned by the dominant key, and under the influence of a particular light, in gay, calm or sad combinations.” — Georges Seurat.

From Henri Edmond Cross, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, and Paul Cezanne, their radically independent styles and dedication to pursuing unique means of artistic expression, the Post-Impressionists dramatically influenced generations of artists, the impact of which we are still seeing to this day in Contemporary Art.

Moving away from the naturalism of Impressionism and focusing their art upon the subjective vision of the artists, rather than following the traditional role of the art as a window onto the world, artists of the Post-Impressionism movement focused on the emotional, structural, symbolic, and spiritual elements that they felt was lacking from Impressionism.

Similarly to the previous division of Neo-Classical and Romantic art, the division of the Post-Impressionism movement also existed in a more structural, formal, nearly scientific design style of artist Georges Seurat with his dot theory, later known as pointillism and Paul Cézanne. They concentrated their practice on the research of colour planes. In contrast, on the other, the art of French painters Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Toulouse-Lautrec emphasised the expression of emotions and sensations through light and colour. Out of these two trends of Post-Impressionism art emerged the extremes of the individual styles of 20th-century art, ranging from Cubism to Surrealism.

Still Life with Milk Jug and Fruit