“Radical Harmony: Neo-Impressionists” exhibition at the National Gallery - Part 1: A New Art ✎

Last year, I went to visit the special Helene Kröller-Müller exhibition at the National Gallery.

Helene Kröller-Müller was an industrialist’s daughter and one of the wealthiest women in the Netherlands. An art enthusiast, she built a significant art collection that eventually formed the basis of the Kröller-Müller Museum. She amassed a remarkable collection, including 90 paintings by Vincent van Gogh and an unrivalled collection of Neo-Impressionist works.

This was a Neo-Impressionist exhibition which I found fascinating because it delved into the philosophy of this epoch of art history. 

While the Impressionists (like Monet and Renoir) worked on intuition, and capturing the fleeting “impression” of a moment; the Pointillists (Neo-Impressionists) viewed this as too messy, romantic, and subjective.

I think pointillism, at its deepest core, is a form of “constructivism”, in the sense that it seeks to construct a “new” truth through a destruction followed by a “rational” reconstruction. Just as a Marxist might argue that Communism is the inevitable scientific conclusion of history, Signac’s art wanted to do away with romanticism etc. to “modern” utopian visual reality.

The Pointillists (particularly Paul Signac & Camille Pissarro) were deeply committed anarcho-communists. While Georges Seurat (the founder) was more reserved about his personal politics, his art (and especially Pissarro) depicted beautiful agrarian & industrial scenes, ports, and peasants, rendering the working classes with a touching dignity. 

Ironically, for us, today, this sort of art is considered rather conservative and passé!

Score: 4/5.

For this blog post, I will select the best paintings for each section of the exhibition.

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Gallery 1: “The New Art”

These are some paintings of the early days of Neo-Impressionism. It is based on the application of dots in line with colour theory.

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Collioure, the Belltower, Opus 164 by Paul Signac (1887)

Magnificent.

Great structure. I love the way the sunlight glints off the wave surfaces. The distinct dots/strokes mimic the sunlight hitting Mediterranean ripples wonderfully.

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Sunday at Port-en-Bessin by Georges Seurat (1888)

Not much of an admirer.

The problem with this painting by Seurat is the dark diagonal railing in the foreground. Signac’s curved beach (in Collioure, the Belltower) swept you smoothly toward the tower. Here, it creates a psychological distance that feels cold.

Even the French tricolors feel stiff, as if frozen in ice.

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Portrieux, The Lighthouse by Paul Signac (1888)

Wow.

Filled with heat and humanity.

This Signac painting uses a very similar compositional device to the Seurat I disliked above (a stone barrier at the fore), but here it works beautifully.

Signac paints the water and sky in cool, receding blues. He then paints the sails in blazing, hot orange-reds. Because the background is so light & cool, those sails and the lighthouse physically “pop” in the eye. They vibrate with intensity.

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Late Afternoon in our Meadow by Camille Pissarro (1887)

One of my favourites of Pissarro.  This is one of the National Gallery’s own masterpieces. 

I absolutely love the quiet romanticism, despite being overtly “unromantic” art.

I love the solitary figure in the field, with her basket.

This is a stylistic twin of the exquisite “Spring Sunshine in the Meadow at Eragny” at the D’Orsay.

A more dynamic version of impressionism? In this Pissarro painting, I feel he has truly replicated the way natural light glints and vibrates of surfaces. The painting feels like it is breathing, capturing the feeling of a warm afternoon sun, more visually impactful than any photograph could.

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Gallery 2: Radical Politics

The exhibition then turns the Neo-Impressionist depictions of the lives and landscapes of people perceived to be of the exploited classes.

Artists, like Luce, Signac and Jan Toorop, made works with an overt political message. While others, like Van Gogh and Anna Boch, were a little bit more sutble.

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Factories on the Thames by Georges Lemmen (1892)

Wow. Effective painting on the alienation of industry. Anomie. Ghosts of ships in the distance. 

That enormous dark oppressive wall dominates the view. Those chimneys are belching smoke into the sky. 

My first painting of Georges Lemmen.

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Boulogne-sur-Mer by Theo van Rysselberghe (1899)

Belgian artist Theo van Ryss. is one of my favourites of the Neos.

This is a painting of hard, unromantic reality. Not a leisure scene: a working fleet. The water is choppy and grey. The sky is overcast.

THis Van Ryss. painting is quite different to his earlier pointillisms. Here, a more subdued earthy palette to give a “realistic” heavier colour scheme. Perhaps a more honest colour, than a rainbow effect - expressionist?

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The Eve of the Strike by Jan Toorop (1889)

Wow.

Pointillism with a nervous anxiety? They seem to be radiating some orange electricity/energy?

This painting (with the setting sun) depicts the day before a strike. Head in hands, his wife looking forlorn with, perhaps, a little baby in arms.

Anxiety & a heavy dread about what the strike might bring.

These are probably the best Jan Toorop paintings I’ve seen. 

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After the Strike by Jan Toorop (1890)

The tragic consequences.

Bent forward, unnaturally so; slumbering, and carrying a little baby, this is about the physical and emotional toll of the strike’s effects.

Horrible and moving.

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The Sower by Vincent van Gogh (1888)

Uplifting and a deeply spiritual painting.

Unlike Toorop, in Van Gogh’s The Sower, the worker (like the sun) radiates an inner force and strength that dominates the canvas. I love the stride, the liveliness and the all-encompassing beams of sunshine.

In fact, I think Van Gogh depicts The Sower as working in harmony with the sun. The aureate sun has the same vibrant colour as the field of wheat. The man has the same colour as the seeds and untouched fields. One helps the other in a beautiful cycle of creation.

Van Gogh depicts man as a source of strength and growth, rather than just toil.

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The Iron Foundry by Maximilien Luce (1899)

I think this artist was a communist.

The danger and exertion of industry: people aren’t just working; they are wrestling with the molten metal. 

Their limbs are fully extended, muscles tense, leaning back to counter the weight of the ladle/smelter.

The blue-gray clouds of some toxic gases? 

Terrific.

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Morning, Interior by Maximilien Luce (1890)

I found this strikingly beautiful. Love it. 

It is visually stunning, and the subject so intimate and tender. I love the warmth of the sunshine pouring in.

To paint a regular man (Luce’s own friend) in his modest bedroom putting on his socks was a statement. Luce is saying: “This moment matters too”.

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Gallery 3: Portraits

The Neo-Impressionist distillation of form run up against the traditional expectation that of a portrait and its likeness.

The exhibition has a few interesting portraits, I focused on the development of Rysselberghe and Toorop.

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Maria Sèthe at the Harmonium by Theo van Rysselberghe (1891)

Wow.

This is “Maria Sèthe at the Harmonium” (wiki) and depicts a close friend of the artist, sitting in a deeply concentrated and reflective pose.

The pointillism here is incredible. The velvet dress sparkles with a wonderful intensity. Her deep purple dress even more pronounced against the bright yellow-orange wood of the organ.

Van Ryss loves to “paint” the frame too.

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The Lady with the Blue Hat by Theo van Rysselberghe (1900)

This portrait is only 10 years after Maria Sethe.

It captures a much lighter (see dress), airier moment; the simple pleasure of a sunny afternoon.

Excellent contrast in the exhibition.

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Portrait of Mrs Marie Jeannette de Lange by Jan Toorop (1900)

Stunning.

The woman, Marie Jeannette de Lange, was the chairwoman of the Association for the Improvement of Women’s Clothing. 

She advocated for “Reform Dress” - i.e. without restrictive corsets that allowed women to move and breathe.

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The Connoisseur of Prints by Jan Toorop (1898-1900)

The subject of the portrait is Dr. Aegidius Timmermann in intense and quiet focus.

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Part 2 to follow

The Wheelbarrow, Orchard by Camille Pissarro (1881) ✎

I saw this painting in Paris.

I really love Pissarro’s rural landscapes - serene, evoking the simple pleasures of life.

Camille Pissarro was a socialist, so he often depicted the workers with a heroic and dignified bearing.

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The daubing with a vibrant palette to capture the shimmering sunlight, and the dappled patterns of light and shadow on the grass.

Spring Sunshine in the Meadow at Eragny by Camille Pissarro (1887) ✎

This painting is exquisite. 

It has a daydream-like quality and filled with the beauty and peacefulness of the countryside.

It is by the impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. I saw it in D’Orsay. 

It was painted later in his life when he settled in the village north of Paris, Eragny.

Pissarro’s brushstrokes are magical. His technique of “broken colour” entails small strokes of different blotches side-by-side as opposed to being mixed on the palette. It’s clearly influenced by Seurat’s pointillism (whom he met in 1885). The sense of warmth is captured in the yellows and oranges bouncing of the surfaces (especially the green grassland). Even the bluey shadows seem to further the shimmering sunshine as a wonderful contrast.

The solitary charming lady - holding her basket - almost melts into the atmosphere of sunshine. She is beautiful because she is connected to the nature itself. She is warmth and peace too.

I think the evocation of sunshine and spring make for a moving uplifting painting.

“Towards Modernity” at the National Gallery - Part 1 ✎

This blog post concerns the art in room 41 of the National Gallery. See index for the other rooms of the National Gallery.

The art here is supposed to survey the transformational force of painting - as an artistic medium - in the early 20th century.

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The Umbrellas by Renoir (1881)

This is a very engaging painting with mystery.

I find the lady’s gaze in our direction quite absorbing. And the little girl’s sweet face turned towards us also. As if we just shouted out: “hi there”.

According to the National Gallery, “Renoir began the painting using a soft, feathery style, but later reworked the left side using harder contours and muted colours.” I think one can tell the different styles here. The lady is painted with much more clarity and sharpness (which I prefer). The little girl has a dream-like translucency feel.

There are essentially 2 different colours - blue and brown (I ove the burgundy-red hair on the lady). I think the two figures on either side create a symmetry; and that the empty basket may be to counter-balance the top-heavy umbrellas. 

Either way, I think its interesting that Renoir paints an empty basket when he could easily have painted some bread or some such item in it. It may also explain why she doesn’t have an umbrella; and there’s a very subtle wistful sadness in her face. She’s not upset; but she’s not exactly happy. Does she know the gentleman? It’s not obvious they know each other. It’s also not very obvious that he’s looking at her at all. Her hands seem to be holding up the edge of her dress; but why? Is it just the rain, or a step on the pavement? And why isn’t she looking where she is going?

Also, the little girl’s lips are upturned? As though she isn’t impressed. There’s drama captured in that fleeting moment of everyday Parisian life, Parisian weather, and perhaps a social statement about the lady?

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Misia Sert by Renoir (1904)

I think this is quite engrossing and charming.

The sitter is Maria Godebska (AKA Misia). She was known among the avant-garde of Paris, at the turn of the last century.

Renoir seems to capture the wealth and elegance of this lady. Relaxing on a chaise-longue with a golden sofa-throw. The background is an effective colour contrast - but it could also be some lush curtains. I think she’s very pretty and painted with a certain grandeur. The delicate finery seems to add to her striking beauty. Renoir has given her a delicate relaxed posture with her hand. Her other hand caresses a sweet dog which is an affectionate touch. 

But there is a certain intensity to her eyes (perhaps some ruefulness) which lend a subtle interesting tone to her.

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The Skiff (La Yole) by Renoir (1875)

I quite like this painting. It’s beautiful.

Two ladies are rowing on the Seine on a gorgeous summer’s day. One of them has pivoted in our direction and may be looking at us. I love her fancy hat with that little black plumage. Her friend’s church-hat reminds me of Berthe Morisot’s summer’s day.

This does seem to have the classic impressionist stuff - a landscape, the spontaneity of river scenes, the interaction of light with objects to create engaging colour effects and that fleeting effect of natural light.

The way Renoir is able to make those iridescent watery reflections is just wonderful. Probably many layers with different textures of paint. Almost every object - from the houses to the rower - seem to have a gleaming or shimmering reflection. 

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A Nymph by a Stream by Renoir (1869)

I like this painting of a nymph creature controlling nature; from antiquity. 

I like the garland of grasses, and that stream of water in which, I think, she reflects. Grass in both hands, she rests on a soft pasture; and such lovely long hair that melts into the idyllic setting. The green-mossy of the brook makes her white flesh glow.

I like her direct carefree gaze. And what a cute nose. She also has a beautiful figure. 

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The Côte des Boeufs at L’Hermitage by Camille Pissarro (1877)

This is really good.

This hillside - called ‘Côte des Boeufs’ - was close to Pissarro’s home at the Paris suburbs. 

Here the painting is focused on the darkness as opposed to the light.

I like the structure and composition. Huge slender trees climbing the length of the canvass are imposing over the charming background of house roofs, chimneys, clouds and hillside.

I like the little pathway and the 2 people (young lad and his aunt in a bonnet?) walking towards us. It adds a rustic charm to it. There is so much heavy brushstrokes that the verdure and shrubbery really does feel dense.

Like that bumpy, textured and coarse ‘feel’ of the paint.

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Men of the Docks by George Bellows (1912)

What a great painting, full of drama.

I was a bit surprised to see this at the National Gallery. I’d hardly seen any American vistas there (and hardly any in the story of impressionism and post-impressionism). I know nothing about George Bellows; so have to read-up about him.

According to the National Gallery, the towers in the distance are of Lower Manhattan. I do like how the painting’s small brushstrokes of the skyscrapers creates such a misty feel at the towers. Just beautiful. The maroon-orange of the ship’s hull contrasts beautifully with its black upper-half. I also love the water brushstrokes - especially the deeper river: that rich dark deep-blue azurey colour. And, then the sheets of ice and thick snow lining the docks. Another one with wonderful vivid colour.

Ultimately, I think we’re drawn to the dock workers. There’s an anxious worried look in the faces of those men at the fore. Some kind of foreboding, or some tenseness in the waiting. I think they all know each other. Something to do with work. I expect this painting is about the man looking for work, and all its attendant stress. I think Bellows has painted drama and anxiety in this scene of working-men of the docks.

It’s very interesting that horses were still being used in 1912 at the docks! Incredible in fact.

Both chaps looking round to their friend.

I like the nonplussed look in the browner guy.

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Fishermen carrying a Drowned by Jozef Israels (1861)

A moving depiction of the tragic.

I don’t know who Israels is; but his painting has a sense of the epic. That subdued and dignified distress is reminiscent of the Christ being taken off the cross. The power of nature can be felt in the windswept landscape, dark atmosphere and crashing waves at the shoreline.

Israels was the leading Dutch painter of his time. I can see why.

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Hillside in Provence by Paul Cezanne (1890)

We know Cezanne started off with the impressionist exhibitions and then moved away as he returned to the South of France. Here he depicts a region in Aix-en-Provence where he was born and spent much of his later years. 

With regards to this type of Cezanne landscape, I often feel that I like it, but also ambivalent about it. I do appreciate its historical context, and how impressionism is being deconstructed. I think his style is important because it challenges us vis-a-vis what art should do with the then rise of photography. I like how it reminds me of the physicality of the medium, and challenges the central perspective in paintings.

At the fore, the complex rock formations (with subtle shadowing) seem to have a feel and texture mirrored by nature (that lone tree). It feels like it doesn’t move at all. And the rocky fortifications is contrasted with a smoother open panoramic landscape.h

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Surprised! by Henri Rousseau (1891)

This is a huge painting, and there’s a lot of movement and dynamism.

Henri Rousseau was a Frenchman & painted ‘Tiger in a Tropical Storm’ in 1891. Though he never left Paris, the plants were inspired by the botanical gardens he worked at in Paris. There is something about the tiger which reminds me of the Japanese woodblock prints, that kind of 2-D effect.

I do like the bursts of colours. There is something really alluring in the lovely red flame-like leaves (which makes you feel the power of the storm). Then, there are the subtle thin lines of silvery translucent paint which give an amazing rendering of gusts of wind and rain. 

I like how the tiger seems disjointed in this painting; and some elements seem sweet in their innocence. The ridiculously long tail, the very thin bird-like legs, the cartoonish eyes etc. The tiger even seems floating; and one of its paws rests on some long grass - yes, grass! - for some support.

I am reminded slightly of William Blake’s paean to the majestic beauty of the tiger. 

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 
In the forests of the night; 
What immortal hand or eye, 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

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Snow Scene at Argenteuil  by Claude Monet (1875)

I really do love a good landscape painting.

There is a great atmosphere in this painting of the winter chill and cold; but also the beauty. The barren and miserable landscape is also kind of beautiful. The brushstrokes of blue, white and grey gives structure to the painting. We can see a bridge and pathway. Those curvy brown-soil cart tracks melt into the distance. So, I think this was horse-and-cart times.

I love the sight of the people trudging through the snow. To me, its evocative of some tranquillity and calm of nature.

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The Museum at Le Havre by Claude Monet (1873)

Terrific.

Le Havre was Monet’s home town. 

I love the overcast dusk atmosphere, the commotion and hustle-and-bustle of everyday folk, the imposing masts and sails, the shimmering reflection on the unruffled water. It speaks to a gentle morning breeze. 

I think the imposing building at the back is the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

I love the brushwork which convey either the gentle movement in the water ripples, or the commotion in the people.

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Water-Lilies, Setting Sun by Claude Monet (1907)

So much beauty in the transient surface of the lake. 

The setting sun being reflected iridescently, the dark shimmering silhouette of a weeping willow in the surface of the lake, and waterlilies here-and-there in an almost suspended-like effect. We can make the edge of the bank with long grass at the lower right-hand side.

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Water-Lilies by Claude Monet (1840-1926)

This painting is huge. In fact, it takes up an entire wall.

Loads of people were gathered around it; but - for me - it’s reminiscent of JMW Turner - especially Norham Castle and Breakers on a flat beach. And we know that Monet was inspired by Turner’s paintings.

I liked both of Monet’s waterlilies (above) because of their visual distortions. In this one, I don’t think we can discern what is really happening. Apart from the waterlilies, there aren’t any clear frames of reference to visually grip onto; and yet it’s quite alluring. 

I think it captures a feeling of being both underwater and above water simultaneously. 

Messy & careful blotches.

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Irises by Claude Monet (1914-17)

Monet many painted irises.

I think this painting is pretty. But I’m not especially drawn to it. 

According to the National Gallery, “it is not clear whether the artist regarded the picture as finished, since it remained in his studio at his death.”

The irises are painted along a meandering waterway. He may have had his double cataracts at this point. The grass and thick purples are nice; but the blue brushstrokes are a bit out-of-place perhaps. Interesting. Here he was looking down from the Japanese bridge.

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The Water-Lily Pond by Claude Monet (1899)

“My wish is to stay always like this, living quietly in a corner of nature” - Monet.

Indeed, this is quite special; and painted over decades.

Monet painting this in his gardens in Giverny. It shows an amazingly beautiful water-lily pond and Japanese bridge.

There is such thick verdure and flowers that it creates an amazing ecology. Monet became an expert on these plants having consulted the leading horticulturalists of his day. The painting has such a luxuriant and rich foliage in the overhanging trees and leafage that it creates a veritable atmosphere. There is gracefulness and symmetry in the scattered and floating waterlilies across the sun-kissed surface of the lake. There are some areas of dappled shade; but the water is transparent in areas. So, the lake feels healthy (no algae). The bridge feels like it almost belongs in nature. That - combined with the smooth unruffled water - creates a scene of wonderful tranquillity.

It makes you reflect on the glory of nature. Such an ecosystem is conducive to life itself. You can imagine the wild birds, small mammals and insects (e.g. dragonflies) that call this home. Them; and of course Monet!

You can feel the texture of the brushstrokes.

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Portrait of Hermine Gallia by Gustav Klimt (1904)

Quite lovely & charming.

Klimt designed the dress Hermine Gallia wears. She who was born in Hamburg, and her husband (Moritz) ran one of the most modern electricity plants. They were affluent Jewish family in Vienna. 

This painting is very subtle and she looks like she is floating. The painting’s ruffles and ribbons are so delicately painted, she feels like a butterfly. Her pose is rather dignified and commands a certain stateliness. And her jewellery really stands out with a brilliancy. They almost looks real. 

A lot of thought went into this painting.

 

Those painted diamonds.