Qatar Culture Club: Impressionism and Deviance

Impressionism is the name of the first contemporary art movement, Led by The French artist Claude Monet (1840-1926). Since he was starting something new, breaking the folkway and norms of painting, traditional artists and the art community at that time considered him a deviant.

This is an Image of the artist compared to a portrait of a traditional artist or (academic):

And this is the second Portrait of the French Master Jacques louis David, the artist I picked in my previous Blog.

We can see the loose and clear brush strokes in Monet’s work, unlike David whose brush strokes are very controlled and hidden. Monet did not even bother covering the entire canvas with colors; on the other hand David does not have any empty spot on his canvas without a color. And there are so many other differences between the two portraits that could be easily noticed just by looking at them.

Ironically, one of Monet’s teachers was David’s student.

Monet and his friends and followers tended to paint outdoor, which is something unusual for traditional artists. Monet focused on painting landscapes directly through observation; he did not like the traditional subject matters because to him it’s just a blind copying of the old masters.

Regardless the Impressionists’ creativity and innovation they got negatively sanctioned, especially by the French Academy of Fine Arts, the formal Organization of art at that time in Paris. The academy disallowed Monet and his fellows from exhibiting their works in the Salon, which is an art exhibition organized by the Academy. Therefore, he and his fellows organized their own art exhibition somewhere else. In the beginning, their work received a lot of criticism and they did not have a lot of visitors. This could be considered as an informal sanction, since it is a disapproval without any kind of written rules.

However, it was just a matter of time. Impressionism was the spark that lit the fire, because other new movements followed it quickly; breaking from the traditions and looking for the new to explore.

In a sociological point of view, Monet was a deviant who created a sub culture of deviants who shared the same principles as him. He challenged the norms and the academy, the formal organization of art. As a result, he and his fellows got negatively sanctioned and perhaps Falsely accused. But Impressionism got accepted later and got followed by other new and innovative movements. And Monet became famous and rich until his death.

Here are some paintings by Monet just to get an idea about his method of painting.