How does a bridge represent impressionism?
I’m learning about Impressionism, Romanticism, and Realism and I’m not sure how a bridge with it’s reflection in a river would represent Impressionism. It’s for my homework. Please help! Thank you in advance!
a bridge is a strong functional thing – a realist painter would paint it like that, maybe emphasising its strnght by painting it from a low perpective looking up so it rears above you; a romantic painter might emphasise its emotional qualities (it will take you somewhere, once crossed you might not be able to go back, what’s on the other side is mysterious, it might be terrifying) so might paint it in mist with hooded figures crossing it. An impressionist captures the few basic sensations the eye gets, reducing the bridge to its geometric shapes: and simple patches of colour that are not really there in nature but are pleasing to the eye – making a flat pattern rather than a shaded 3-D object, likewise will paint just the line of the arch and reflection of the arch forming an oval that can then be filled in with flat colour (and the waterline dividing it), the straight lines of the bed and the sweeping lines of the approaches or the cables holding up the bed: such a bridge would never take cars – it is only the visual idea of a bridge. Check out bridges by holderlin, hodler (romantic) , munch (expressionaist), cezanne (impressionist), frank stella (abstract expressionsits).
November 20th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
a bridge is a strong functional thing – a realist painter would paint it like that, maybe emphasising its strnght by painting it from a low perpective looking up so it rears above you; a romantic painter might emphasise its emotional qualities (it will take you somewhere, once crossed you might not be able to go back, what’s on the other side is mysterious, it might be terrifying) so might paint it in mist with hooded figures crossing it. An impressionist captures the few basic sensations the eye gets, reducing the bridge to its geometric shapes: and simple patches of colour that are not really there in nature but are pleasing to the eye – making a flat pattern rather than a shaded 3-D object, likewise will paint just the line of the arch and reflection of the arch forming an oval that can then be filled in with flat colour (and the waterline dividing it), the straight lines of the bed and the sweeping lines of the approaches or the cables holding up the bed: such a bridge would never take cars – it is only the visual idea of a bridge. Check out bridges by holderlin, hodler (romantic) , munch (expressionaist), cezanne (impressionist), frank stella (abstract expressionsits).
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