Neoclassicism and Impressionism

 Neoclassicism and Impressionism

Evening Landscape with an Aqueduct, by

Théodore Gericault, painted in France (1818)

The Intervention of the Sabine Women,

by Jacques-Louis David, painted in France (1799)

 Neoclassicism is opposed to much of what the other styles from the Romantic era represent. Neoclassicism represents the older classical values of portraying things objectively and focusing more on how the world is instead of how people interpret the world.

   Impressionist art is nearly the polar opposite of Neoclassicism, as it portrays only how a person interprets the world, even if that interpretation is distinctly different from object reality.

  Even though the mediums of expression are quite different, I believe that both Neoclassical art and Impressionist art serve the purpose of transporting an experience from one brain to another through the vehicle of a canvas. The difference in my opinion comes in how raw the message being transported is. By rawness, I refer to how close the experience being communicated is to its source material, the scene that was viewed, or the emotion that was felt first-hand.

    The first, most obvious, difference between the Neoclassical works and the Impressionist pieces is the use of line work. The Neoclassical pieces have much cleaner and nearly undetectable brush strokes, whereas the Impressionist works make the brush strokes deliberately visible to add another dimension to the painting.

  The reason for this difference is the intended effect on the viewer of the painting. Impressionist work is like a memory or thought printed directly onto a piece of paper with no filter. All of the emotion and general essence of the source material have been ripped directly from the mind. This allows direct insight into what the artist was thinking or feeling when they created the artwork. 

   Neoclassical art takes a different approach. The Neoclassical pieces create a realistic scene that conveys none of the artist's interpretation directly. Instead, symbolism and metaphor are used to lead the viewer to the same conclusion as the artist. So instead of directly conveying a message, the Neoclassical artist creates a roadmap for the viewer to follow to the intended message.

Woman with a Parasol - by Claude Monet, 

painted in France (1785)

    The use of color also reflects this doctrinal difference in presentation. The colors in an Impressionist work don't so much reflect the reality of a scene but more how that scene is viewed in the mindscape of the artist. In contrast, Neoclassical artworks present realistic colors that are meant to be interpreted rather than experienced.

  Another element of the artwork that illustrates this difference is form. The form in Neoclassical art is well-defined. Objects and people are distinct and separate from each other, and the viewer is given the opportunity to interpret the distinct objects for themselves. The Impressionist pieces instead blend objects together and leave much of the scene somewhat formless. While this means losing some definition, choosing where and how to use formlessness can convey meaning. For example, the woman's face in Woman with a Parasol is blending into the sky.

  My personal favor leans towards the Neoclassical style. While being presented with a window directly into someone's mind through an Impressionist work is interesting, I enjoy much more the opportunities for interpretation afforded in Neoclassical works. 

The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, by Claude Monet,
painted in France (1880)

Works Cited

David, J.-L. (2023, July 14). The intervention of the sabine women. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1125/the-intervention-of-the-sabine-women/

French, T. G. (1970, January 1). Théodore Gericault: Evening: Landscape with an aqueduct. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436455

Impressionism. (n.d.). https://www.nga.gov/features/slideshows/impressionism.html#slide_9

Woman with a parasol - madame monet and her son. Art Object Page. (n.d.). https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61379.html