Post-Impressionism and Beyond
- Topics:
- Fine Arts
In the years that followed the landmark Impressionist exhibitions of the 1870s and 1880s, a wave of younger painters pushed the basic principles of the movement into previously uncharted reaches of formal innovation. Daring figures such as Pierre Bonnard, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and eventually Henri Matisse found in Impressionism’s independence a license for their own experimentation.
These avant-garde painters would come to be known as Post-Impressionists, as they embraced new subjects, invented new pictorial structures, and applied color theory in unexpected ways.
The Post-Impressionists ushered in a 20th century marked by artistic freedom and even rebellion. Matisse’s early challenge to conventional notions of color harmony liberated the palettes of such diverse painters as Georges Braque, Chaim Soutine, and Marc Chagall, among many others.
These remarkable painters, in turn, set the course of Western art in new directions and laid the groundwork for generations of innovative artists to come.
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View image 1 in lightbox:
![Henri Matisse, The Palace, Belle Île, c. 1896 – 97]()
Henri Matisse (French, 1869 – 1954); The Palace, Belle Île, c. 1896 – 97; oil on canvas; 12 ¾ x 15 ¾ inches; collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Dixon, 1975.15
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View image 2 in lightbox:
![Paul Cézanne, Trees and Rocks near the Château Noir]()
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839 – 1906); Trees and Rocks near the Château Noir, c. 1900-06; oil on canvas; 24 3/8 x 20 ¼ inches; collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Museum purchase from Cornelia Ritchie and Ritchie Trust No. 4, 1996.2.20
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View image 3 in lightbox:
![Henri-Edmond Cross, The Little Maure Mountains]()
Henri-Edmond Cross (French, 1856 – 1910); The Little Maure Mountains, 1909; oil on canvas; 12 ¼ x 21 inches; collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Dixon, 1975.17
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View image 4 in lightbox:
![Marc Chagall, Dreamer]()
Marc Chagall (Russian, 1887 – 1985); Dreamer, 1945; oil on canvas; 28 ½ x 21 ½ inches; Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Gift of Cornelia Ritchie, 1996.2.3
