The Courtauld Gallery in London is home to one of the world’s finest Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections. These two successive movements, surfacing in late 19th-century France, marked a revolutionary shift in Western painting, breaking from academic traditions to explore new ways of seeing and experiencing the world. While the Impressionists sought to capture fleeting moments of light and colour, the Post-Impressionists (in response) took these ideas further, delving into emotional expression, structure, and symbolism. In this post, we’ll explore a series of key artists and their works from The Courtauld’s collection which are currently on display, showcasing how these movements evolved as well as their powerful lasting influence on modern art.
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Impressionism: Capturing Fleeting Moments
Impressionism emerged as a bold rejection of the traditional academic styles promoted by government-sponsored annual exhibitions (salons). Instead of grand historical or mythological scenes, the Impressionists painted everyday life and contemporary landscapes, often focusing on moments of bourgeois leisure and recreation. Artists like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Édouard Manet sought to capture the transitory effects of light, atmosphere, and movement, often painting en plein air (outdoors) to observe nature directly and capture a feeling, as opposed to a representation of an objective reality. Their innovative techniques—loose brushwork, pure colour palettes, and cropped perspectives influenced by Japanese prints (ukiyo-e)—created a new way of seeing the world.
Claude Monet
Claude Monet, a founding figure of Impressionism, exemplified the movement’s focus on light and atmosphere. A beautiful and imposing keystone of The Courtauld’s Impressionist exhibition, Antibes (1888) captures the Mediterranean coast bathed in warm, golden light. The painting breaths a sense of peace; warmth radiates from its gentle casting of the Mediterranean sun. The shimmering sea and sky, rendered with Monet’s signature loose brushwork, convey a fleeting moment of brilliance, a hallmark of Impressionism, and one that we will continue to see through the evolution of these works.
Similarly, in Autumn Effect at Argenteuil (1873), Monet explores the reflective qualities of water, capturing the Seine River in rich autumnal hues. The soft ripples on the water’s surface and the interplay of light on the trees create a sense of tranquillity and impermanence. Monet’s approach—working quickly outdoors to capture the changing light—set the tone for many of his contemporaries. His focus on the ephemeral qualities of nature made his work emblematic of Impressionism’s desire to freeze moments in time.
Edgar Degas
While Impressionism, for most, will conjure up gentle landscapes in the style of Monet; Impressionism’s capacity to capture moments of brilliance operated effectively in more private settings, too. Edgar Degas turned his eye to the human figure, particularly women in private, unguarded moments. His pastel works, such as After the Bath: Woman Drying Herself (1885-1900) and Seated Bather Drying Her Neck (1895-1900), highlight Degas’ fascination with the female form and movement. Unlike Monet’s outdoor scenes, Degas focused on capturing intimate, everyday activities with soft, delicate pastels. His bather series depicts women engaged in mundane, private rituals, and his mastery of colour and line brings out the grace and naturalism of their movements.
Seated Bather Drying Her Neck by Edgar Degas (c. 1890-95)
Degas’ use of cropped perspectives and unposed figures was influenced by Japanese prints, much like other Impressionists, but his focus remained on the human body and its interaction with space and light.
Édouard Manet
Another key figure in the development of Impressionism was Édouard Manet, whose painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882), which is currently on display at The Courtauld, offers a sophisticated exploration of modern urban life. Manet’s barmaid stands detached from the bustling crowd reflected in the mirror behind her, creating a subtle commentary on social alienation in the vibrant Parisian nightlife. Manet’s use of reflection and perspective is masterful, and the composition’s complexity sets it apart from the more straightforward landscapes of Monet or Degas’ intimate scenes.
Manet’s work bridges Realism and Impressionism, focusing on contemporary subjects while experimenting with light, reflection, and composition, making him a pivotal figure in technical terms for the movement’s development.
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne, though often grouped with the Impressionists, was already moving in a new direction with his work by the mid-to-late 1870’s and early 1880’s. His landscapes, such as L'Etang des Soeurs, Osny (1877) and The Brook (1879-1882), show a departure from the transient effects of light that fascinated artists such as Monet. Instead, Cézanne emphasised intention in the underlying structure of nature, using more deliberate, geometric brushstrokes to depict the solid forms of trees, rocks, and water. His desire to reveal the enduring shapes and patterns in the landscape, rather than just the momentary effects of light, foreshadowed his role in the development of Post-Impressionism.
L’Etang des Soeurs, Osny (c. 1875)
Cézanne’s exploration of form and structure would lay the groundwork for movements like Cubism, but his early works retain the softness of Impressionism while hinting at a more analytical approach.
Post-Impressionism: Moving Beyond the Moment
By the 1880s, a new wave of artists sought to push beyond the boundaries set by the Impressionists. The Post-Impressionists, bridged by Cézanne but more prominently led by figures like Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat, rejected the focus on fleeting moments and naturalistic light. Instead, they emphasised emotional depth, symbolic content, and formal structure. While they continued to experiment with colour, the Post-Impressionists were more interested in using it to convey emotion and meaning, rather than simply capturing nature.
Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin’s The Haystacks (1889) marks a clear departure from the naturalist bent of Impressionism. Here, Gauguin simplifies the forms of the rural landscape, using bold, flat planes of colour to create a sense of calm and timelessness. His emphasis on emotional expression over realistic detail is further seen in Landscape Near Arles (1888), where Gauguin’s use of vibrant, unnatural colours transforms the landscape into something more symbolic and abstract. These works reflect Gauguin’s growing interest in the spiritual and symbolic potential of art, moving away from the purely observational approach of the Impressionists.
Gauguin’s bold colour choices and simplified forms paved the way for Symbolism, demonstrating how Post-Impressionism sought to evoke emotion and meaning beyond the visible world.
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh’s Peach Trees in Blossom (1889) and Almond Blossom (1890) highlight his departure from Impressionist techniques, moving towards the symbolic and emotional focus that defines Post-Impressionism. Peach Trees in Blossom, painted during Van Gogh’s time in Arles, captures the soft pink hues and warm light of spring, using vibrant, expressive brushstrokes to convey not just the scene itself, but the renewal and hope he associated with the season. The work moves beyond a fleeting impression of nature, instead imbuing the landscape with personal meaning and emotional depth—an early indicator of Post-Impressionism’s shift from pure visual observation to expressive symbolism.
Almond Blossom by Vincent Van Gogh (1890)
Together, these works mark Van Gogh’s bridging evolution from Impressionism to Post-Impressionism, showcasing how he used nature as a medium to express complex personal themes and emotions, laying the groundwork for more modern artistic movements' expressive possibilities.
Georges Seurat
Georges Seurat is often celebrated for his scientific approach to painting, which would eventually lead to the development of his signature pointillist style. However, in Man Painting a Boat (c. 1883), Seurat’s technique reveals his early engagement with Impressionist principles, particularly the practice of painting outdoors to capture natural scenes. This quickly executed river scene shows Seurat experimenting with the Impressionists’ open-air oil painting tradition, yet his controlled, criss-crossed brushwork hints at his departure from their looser techniques. While he admired the Impressionists’ focus on light and atmosphere, Seurat’s methodical approach to brushwork suggests an early shift towards the structured, analytical qualities that would define his contribution to Post-Impressionism.
In Man Painting a Boat, Seurat’s technique already reflects his ambition to move beyond the spontaneous, fleeting effects favoured by Impressionist artists. His calculated brushstrokes foreshadow his later exploration of order and scientific precision in painting, as he sought to bring greater formal structure and intellectual depth to his work. This approach paved the way for his later innovations in colour theory and composition, establishing him as a pivotal figure in the transition from Impressionism to the more structured, symbolic focus of Post-Impressionism.
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The transition from Impressionism to Post-Impressionism represents one of the most transformative periods in the history of European art. While the Impressionists sought to capture the fleeting beauty of the world around them, the Post-Impressionists moved beyond these momentary effects to explore deeper emotional, spiritual, and structural concerns. Together, these movements laid the groundwork for the explosion of modern art in the 20th century, and their influence continues to be felt in art galleries and homes around the world today. This is no more evident than in The Courtauld today. Visiting The Courtauld Gallery offers a chance to experience this revolutionary journey through art firsthand, where these masterpieces continue to inspire new generations of art lovers.
See more on Impressionism here.
