From Monet to Van Gogh: A History of Impressionism

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Rated 4 out of 5 by BaruchLXXX from Provides a cultural perspective of Impressionists Perhaps, because I am interested in the History of Ideas, I found that was said was of more interest and significance than just the visual analysis description.I found these lectures immensely interesting and taught me how to see and look at the Impressionists and to make sense of the whole movement and it taught me how to discriminate and identify the Artists. I a indebted to these lectures which make sense to a none artist. It is a culturally illuminating, having lived in France this course makes sense of aspects of France that I had not understood at the time.

Date published: 2023-05-22

Rated 5 out of 5 by Gharmjo from Well Done Brettell’s course covers the transition from Classic/Romantic arts to “urban Realism". It documents painters' efforts to find islands of natural intimacy amidst urban drabness to landscape serenity paintings. L1 nicely begins examination of the artistic methods by discussing both Degas's photographic "Ballet Rehearsal on the Stage" vs. Monet's colorful, free-painted “Sunrise". On the more sordid side, Baudelaire (the major 19th century art critic) deeply influenced the Impressionists with his well-dressed French style “dandy" strolling the streets looking for diversion. His life reflected this approach and he ultimately dies of tertiary syphilis. Manet would later also became obsessed with the public café and sex workers in public places. His final masterpiece "A Bar at the Folies Bergere" (L17) had themes of loneliness in public spaces and of repressed desire. It was painted in 1882 as he too died of tertiary syphilis. Degas (L13) followed, with themes of low-life and scandal. He would later (L14) concentrate on portraits of all stations of French people even into urban prostitution. Mary Cassatt, an American, interestingly themed fashion (L16) as “a form of disguise or armor for women” and famously documented her sister's last years (died in her twenties). She and Degas would work together. L4: Manet’s works were rejected by the repressive Salon jury, but Napoleon III created the "Salon of Refused Artists so that the public could “judge the jury". The Salon's rejection and Napoleon III’s remedy brought to mind Franz Liszt’s famous quote (Great Course: Great Masters_Liszt by Greenberg, L7): “From where does a critic derive his or her authority?” L5: Monet and his teacher Boudin, painted their personal interpretations of the outdoor world. Monet, Renoir, and Bazille often painted together (L6), allowing each to better critique and differentiate their own style. Monet/Renoir or Monet/Pissarro went further with this into paired landscapes of identical compositions for mutual critique. While Monet and Manet went on to create “eternal summer" Parisian suburbs at Argenteuil, Renoir would develop humanized landscapes. After his young wife's painful death (L18), Monet fled and sought isolated, remote landscapes with extreme weather effects. He would later return to Giverny and repeatedly experiment with subjects using new techniques. This extension of Impressionism (such as his multiple paintings of haystacks near Giverny) had a fixed subject but the color and “envelope of light" that surrounded them changed. Berthe Morisot (L12) provided a view into the rich Parisian woman's world of gardens, housing interiors externally and internally limited by family needs, melancholy and boredom. Callibotte (L15), on the other hand, would paint male urban subjects (previously avoided by Impressionists) in rowing, drinking, strolling, playing cards, etc. Later painters such as Cezanne (the Post-Impressionist, L9) would run these paintings’ bright, unmixed colors “into the ground”, with some beginning to view such work as “intransigent" social radicalism. The end of Impressionism was covered well (L19-23) with Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Toulouse-Lautrec and “The Nabis” who boasted the more neurotic random paint splashes that “sophisticated" critics revel in. As Impressionism seemed to devolve into cartoon, it might be fair to end this section repeating Liszt's: “From where does a critic derive his or her authority?” CONCLUSION: Excellently illustrated and cohesive course on the Impressionists who took us out of museum portraits and into the way light interacts with the natural world.

Date published: 2023-01-09

Rated 5 out of 5 by DavidR322 from Excellent speaker and body of knowledge One of the real strengths of this series is the historical focus. I feel I am learning the many "secrets" of the people and times of 19th Century Paris and its artists that one doesn't find in art books. Dr. Brettell is a brilliant and animated speaker, who is a true expert and lover of his field. It is a pleasure to listen to him as he gives such a rich wealth of knowledge for each painting, artist, and their historic context.

Date published: 2022-12-23

Rated 5 out of 5 by quidam2 from From Monet to Van Gogh: A History of Impressionism Very informative course. Explained clearly the art through 19th century + great stories along the way. I have to watch it twice.

Date published: 2022-12-14

Rated 5 out of 5 by Bapi Nonna from Monet to Van Gogh I’ve taken two university (Northwestern and Harvard) level courses on Impressionism. Each one was very different. This course is very different from either college course. It presented an entirely new way to look at the artists and their works. It was the best of the three.

Date published: 2022-11-29

Rated 3 out of 5 by artistJRT from Distracting style of presentation Although the presenter has extensive knowledge of the subject I found his presentation style distracted from my enjoyment of the course. His excessive use of nervous, flitting, jerking hand movements and arm waving was annoying. I also felt that his repetitious use of words and phrases, including often repeated information, made it seem as though he was sure his audience was incapable of understanding what he was trying to impart. Some comments about the paintings were a bit absurd and to the point of over-explaining. I feel the course would benefit from more examples of the artist's work being shown, rather than over-commenting on a few examples.

Date published: 2022-11-09

Rated 5 out of 5 by 11Robert from Excellent analysis I bought this and learned a lot so I bought 2more to give to my children. Excellent lecturer with a good selection of paintings, a bit of history and interesting analysis.

Date published: 2022-11-06

Rated 5 out of 5 by Canadian from Bravo, Dr. Brettell! Much is praiseworthy about this remarkable course: * Dr. Brettell’s insights and his analyses of the featured Impressionist paintings are more convincing and easy-to-follow than those I’ve heard elsewhere during in-person university courses. * This professor speaks conversationally. Though his lectures must have been thoroughly planned, they are delivered with spontaneity and with frequent relevant digressions, contributing to a liveliness and immediacy too often lacking in our present “era of the teleprompter.” * Accompanying illustrations are plentiful, left on-screen long enough to appreciate, and are skilfully highlighted as the speaker directs viewers to particular details. * Dr. Brettell provides important backstory about Paris in the 19th century, plus enough biographical information about individual painters to make details in their work more notable and explicable. * The lecturer draws on his personal experiences as an art curator and as a researcher, sharing even what modern technology can reveal about how paintings of the past were constructed and how they have aged. * His turns of phrase are rich and vivid, and his analogies are enlightening. * The innovations, collaborations, passions, frustrations, sorrows, and even the less-than-noble qualities of the featured painters and other historical persons are all discussed frankly and with commendable empathy for the human condition. As happens for me when teachers are truly excellent, I catch their enthusiasm. I now crave further study of the Impressionists. I’m also going to order Dr. Brettell’s other two Great Courses about the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Date published: 2022-10-07

Overview

Encounter the most famous artistic movement in history with this course that examines the work of Monet, Degas, Manet, Renoir and many other geniuses.

About

Richard Brettell

Great works of art communicate across time.

ALMA MATER

Yale University

INSTITUTION

The University of Texas, Dallas

Richard Brettell (1949–2020) was the Margaret McDermott Distinguished Professor of Art and Aesthetics at The University of Texas at Dallas. He earned his BA, MA, and PhD from Yale University. Prior to joining The University of Texas at Dallas, Professor Brettell taught at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Yale University, and Harvard University. Professor Brettell was the founding American director of the French Regional and American Museum Exchange, designed to promote the exchange of art and information between regional museums in France and the United States. He served as the McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art and advised and consulted for museums such as the Portland Museum of Art and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. His museum exhibition work included Monet in Normandy (for the de Young Museum in San Francisco) and The Impressionist in the City: Pissarro’s Series (for the Dallas Museum of Art). He gave scholarly lectures at numerous museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art, and he wrote more than 25 books, including Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century European Drawings in the Robert Lehman Collection and Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860–1890.

By This Professor

From Monet to Van Gogh: A History of Impressionism

01: The Realist and the Idealist

In 1855, Paris held the first of many international exhibitions, allowing Frenchmen and foreign viewers to witness the tensions raging in the French art world. At mid-century, the bitter rivalry was between two competing trends: the French Classical tradition exemplified by Jean-Dominique Ingres, and the French Romantic tradition presided over by Eugène Delacroix. To this mixture was added the new strand of art called Realism.

32 min

02: Napoleon III’s Paris

Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, declared himself emperor of France in 1853. His aim was to modernize the economy of France, create a sophisticated and centralized rail-transport system, and completely rebuild and glorify the capital city, Paris. This systematic development meant that, for most Parisians, life was utterly disrupted and altered from fundamental patterns.

30 min

03: Baudelaire and the Definition of Modernism

A poet and art critic named Charles Baudelaire began writing systematically about art in 1846. His basic idea was that art should be "of its own times," and he struggled to find artists who would embody his ideals.

30 min

04: The Shock of the New

Edouard Manet, the son of a prominent civil servant, was among the best-educated and most authoritatively independent artists of the 19th century. He painted works that, although fundamentally Baudelairian, actually transcend Baudelaire. Manet's painting is as great as Baudelaire's poetry, and greater than his art criticism.

30 min

05: The Painters of Modern Life

By 1865 Manet's fame made him the de facto leader of a group of young painters who wanted to push painting further and further into modern life. These artists included Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Frédéric Bazille, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Cézanne—all of whom would become central members of the Impressionist group.

30 min

06: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Of the young artists in Manet's circle, Auguste Renoir was the most naturally fluent and, hence, sensual painter. His works vary widely in composition, subject, and style, indicating a willingness to experiment that was greater than that of any of his colleagues.

30 min

07: Impressions in the Countryside

In 1869 Monet, Renoir, Sisley, and Pissarro all moved to a landscape along the Seine just west of Paris and easily accessible to the capital by train. The aesthetic created by these four men in what we might call the Cradle of Impressionism stressed the modern and the mutable. The landscapes were not only up-to-date in terms of their fashionable urban/suburban subjects, but also in their fascination with the frank use of materials.

30 min

08: Paris under Siege

The Second Empire crumbled in 1870 when, after provocation from Prussia, France declared war. Inadequately prepared, the French endured a humiliating defeat. This was followed by another in a series of 19th-century French revolutions, the Commune, based completely in Paris. These upheavals caused many Impressionists to leave Paris and France, and had notable effects on their lives and work.

32 min

09: The First Exhibition

Within two years of the group's return to Paris, they had organized themselves into a new and, in French art, unprecedented private and independent group of artists. Their aim was to organize an exhibition of their own work on their own terms, outside the governmental strictures that limited artistic freedom in France. The exhibition, in May of 1874, quickly came to be called an exhibition of Impressionists or an Impressionist Exhibition, possibly based on the title of a quickly painted canvas by Monet entitled "Impression: Sunrise."

30 min

10: Monet and Renoir in Argenteuil

After the First Exhibition, a core group of the artists spent the summer together in the suburban town of Argenteuil, just west of Paris, a popular spot for sailing on the Seine. That summer can easily be considered the classic moment of suburban Impressionism.

30 min

11: Cézanne and Pissarro in Pontoise

While "The School of Argenteuil" painted modern suburban landscapes along the Seine, Camille Pissarro gathered a different group of artists around the much less-modern town of Pontoise, on the river Oise. Although several artists were part of this group, the most important, after Pissarro, was the young provincial painter, Paul Cézanne.

30 min

12: Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot was the first woman in the history of French art to have a career comparable to the best of her male colleagues. She was also the first to be accepted completely by a group of male artists, including Manet, Degas, and Renoir. Her social position in the haute bourgeoisie and her gender shaped her oeuvre powerfully.

30 min

13: The Third Exhibition

In 1877 a relative newcomer to the group, Gustave Caillebotte, organized the third Impressionist Exhibition. His modern and thoroughly urban works anchored what can now be called the single most important of all eight Impressionist exhibitions, defining the major artists for the next several generations.

30 min

14: Edgar Degas

One artist, more than any other, represented the modern urban condition as a psychological as well as social condition. Edgar Degas created a body of work in various media that defines Parisian modernism through the interaction of figures with their settings.

30 min

15: Gustave Caillebotte

Caillebotte was the wealthiest of all the artists associated with Impressionism. Long known as a collector and patron of the group, he was recognized as a painter in his own right only after World War II, when works from the family collection began to be acquired by major museums.

30 min

16: Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was a well-born American painter who had worked extensively in Europe before she met Edgar Degas in 1876. He introduced her into the Impressionist circle, and she became the only American painter who was a major force in the movement. Like Morisot, Cassatt's paintings depict the lives of wealthy women.

30 min

17: Manet’s Later Works

Edouard Manet is known today chiefly as a painter of major Salon Paintings in the 1860s, and as the creator of a late masterpiece, "The Bar at the Folies-Bergeres." That view is incorrect and undervalues the importance of his Impressionist experiments. He is among the few great painters in the history of art who adapted his style as a mature painter to that of younger artists.

30 min

18: Departures

Renoir and Monet became increasingly successful in the early 1880s and, perhaps as a result, increasingly dissatisfied with the group dynamics and politics of the Impressionists. Each of them also became restive about Paris and its suburbs as the sole subject of their art.

30 min

19: Paul Gauguin

A young banker-stockbroker named Paul Gauguin met Pissarro in the late 1870s and became a major collector of Impressionism. He also embarked on a career as an amateur painter and sculptor, and exhibited with the Impressionists in their last four exhibitions.

30 min

20: The Final Exhibition

In 1885 Pissarro went to visit a young, academically trained painter named Georges Seurat. This meeting changed both men's careers and the subsequent history of art, introducing a scientific rigor into conception, composition, and execution of art. Their collaboration brought an end to the Impressionist experiment when they dominated the final Impressionist Exhibition in April of 1886.

30 min

21: The Studio of the South—Van Gogh and Gauguin

A young Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, came to Paris in February of 1886 and visited the final Impressionist exhibition. He befriended many of the artists but came increasingly under the spell of Paul Gauguin. In 1888, van Gogh moved to Arles in the south of France and succeeded in convincing Gauguin to join him to create an artistic brotherhood called "The Studio of the South."

30 min

22: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the only son of the Comte de Toulouse, was the wealthiest and most nobly born painter in the history of French art. All of Toulouse-Lautrec's early subjects have their origins in the art of Manet and Degas. Hence, Lautrec can be considered a second-generation Impressionist.

31 min

23: The Nabis

In the late 1880s a small group of young men formed a brotherhood of artists called "Nabis" (the Hebrew word for prophet). Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard, the most important artists of the group, took the informal art of Impressionism into the interiors of 1890s Paris—a realm relatively unexplored by the Impressionists themselves.

31 min

24: "La Fin"

After their final exhibition, boycotted by Renoir and Monet, the Impressionists worked more or less independently of each other. Monet's pictorial production of the 1890s was dominated by the concept of "series" paintings. Pissarro and Degas also devoted much of that decade to series of their own.

32 min