Art history timeline atlas
Post-Impressionism And Symbolism
After Impressionism, artists pushed color, structure, symbol and emotion in different directions that opened the door to modernism.
Revolution, Industry And Mass Vision
Historical context
Cezanne treated painting as constructed form; Van Gogh intensified color and mark; Seurat systematized optical color; Symbolists turned inward toward dream and myth.
Gauguin's legacy must be handled critically because his art is bound to colonial fantasy, exploitation and self-mythologizing.
How to look
- Look for speed: steam, newspapers, cameras, crowds, new pigments, new exhibitions and new ways of seeing the city.
- Notice the artist's position toward modern life. Some images chase sensation, some criticize society, and some search for escape, memory or spirituality.
Makers, works, and materials
Date range: c. 1880-1910
Regions: Europe
Media: Painting, Print, Drawing
Movements: Post-Impressionism, Symbolism
Makers to research
- Vincent van Gogh
- Paul Cezanne
- Georges Seurat
- Paul Gauguin
- Odilon Redon
Named works to compare
- Cezanne bathers and still lifes
- Van Gogh landscapes
- Pointillist city scenes
The apple that became architecture
Cezanne could make a still life feel unstable and monumental at once. The table, fruit and viewpoint become a construction project.
Legacy and why it matters
Post-Impressionism fed Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, abstraction and modern ideas of painting as structure rather than window.