Term designating generally the pictorial art movements that succeeded impressionism. Initially the term was applied to the styles developed during the last two decades of the 19th century by the French painters Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Georges Seurat, and by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. It was first used in reference to an exhibition of paintings by Cézanne, Gauguin, and van Gogh held in London in 1910. In their work all of the painters named, except Seurat, stressed a subjective view of the visual world. Although the postimpressionists based their styles of painting on the color innovations of impressionism, they reacted against the naturalistic accuracy of impressionism and its attempt to depict light.
"Postimpressionism," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The work of the postimpressionists reveals a freely expressive use of color and form. They departed from certain features of impressionism, such as analysis of the effects of light and the illusionistic conventions of naturalism. Cézanne was more interested in rendering the structural qualities of his subject than in copying nature. He painted still lifes and landscapes in a manner emphasizing their cubic volume, as in Pines and Rocks (1895-1898, Museum of Modern Art, New York City).
His emphasis on the geometric forms and prismatic light inherent in nature anticipated cubism. Gauguin was concerned with developing flat, decorative surface patterns in an attempt to capture the pictorial boldness of folk art, as in Calvary (1889, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussel). His work influenced the style of the French painter Henri Matisse, one of the leaders of fauvism. Van Gogh used vivid, often strident, colors to evoke powerful spiritual and emotional meanings from his subjects. Representative of his subjective approach is Starry Night (1889, Museum of Modern Art). His paintings presaged expressionism. Seurat painstakingly applied his paints over the entire surface of the canvas in tiny points of pure color, which, when viewed from afar, would appear to blend, forming blocks of color and shadows. A fine example of his work is the large painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte (1884-86, Art Institute of Chicago). Toulouse-Lautrec, who is also famous for his work in color lithography, was influenced strongly by the linear compositions of Japanese prints. He frequently chose for subjects equestrian scenes and scenes of Paris nightlife, such as that depicted in At the Moulin Rouge (1889, Art Institute of Chicago).
Other movements in 20th-century art, such as surrealism and futurism, as well as cubism, expressionism, and fauvism, are referred to as postimpressionist because they developed as a result partly of the freedom achieved for the artist by impressionism and partly of a new emphasis upon mental conception in art. In the latter sense the 20th-century art movements reflect notably the innovations of Cézanne, Gauguin, and van Gogh.
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