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On Thursday, November 15, 2012, I

attended the Montreal Museum of Fine

Arts. The museum was located on 1380,

Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion

Sherbrooke Street West. The museum

was in a well known location, this

determining right away the high

expectancy. It was well presented and

was kept clean. It had been decorated

and fixed with expressive color on the

white walls. Our Major Movements

class had been scheduled to meet in

front of the museum building at

approximately 1 pm, in order for the

self tour to begin. I had arrived a few

minutes after the given time, with two

of my classmates and stood in a fairly

long line. After purchasing my museum

ticket, I then had to wait in another line

to check-in my belongings. Finally, we

began our self tour. We were directed to

go see the exhibition on the history of

Impressionism. There were three grand

halls filled with the Great French

paintings from the Clark, based on the

Impressionism art era. The

Impressionism exhibit held 75

paintings. The three halls were filled

with paintings hung up on every corner

and spacing on the walls. Every single

painting had captured my attention

according to its vivid color presented,

one more beautiful than the other. The

artists had incorporated not only a great

technique to their work but as well used

an expression through color. Each hall

had been more condensed with people

than the next. The individuals viewing

the exhibition were of all ages, from

young students to the elderly people.

I’ve never seen a museum so crammed.

Personally, I did not find my experience

to be as enjoyable as I hoped because

of the interruption brought by the

people. Some students were

thoughtless when it came to the

appreciation of the art, and overlooked

its beauty and significance with laughter

and unnecessary slurs. This had really

distracted me as a first time viewer of

this specific art because of all the

constant talking and distracting

movement occurring around me. It was

difficult for me to keep a focus. My

classmates and I had still managed to

value the beauty of the art, even with all

of the distractions. The art itself was

powerful, and self expressive. I

recommend this exhibition to anyone

who shares the same passion for art,

and who can relate and understand the

work by all the many talented artists.

http://www.mbam.qc.ca/impressionnisme/HTML/en/index.html



The Romantic era had begun between

the years; 1800-1850.This period had

been a rebellion against the

Neoclassicism era, seeing that the

Romantics of this era had pursed their

passions when illustrating their arts.

Whereas, the artists from the

Neoclassicism period had mainly

revolved their mood of art around self

sacrifice. While this canvas holds a

strong and meaningful history, which

really sets this serious tone for the

entire painting. Having taken place 1on

the night of October 16, 1834, the

Houses of Parliament in London were

consumed by fire. As the Londoners

crowded around the river, and filled

every available boat in order to gaze in

awe at the horrifying spectacle. The

artist had then sketched this horrific

scene occurring right before his eyes,

and then portrayed its entirety in

studio. The 2London-born artist, Joseph

Mallord William Turner was the most

versatile, successful, and controversial

landscape painter of nineteenth-century

England. Turner then goes into great

detail when illustrating the flames into

3a surging maelstrom of vigorously

1http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/highlights/html

/4896108.html

2 © 2000–2012 The Metropolitan Museum of Art -

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/trnr/hd_trnr.ht

m

3http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/highlights/html

/4896108.html

applied, radiant color, thus emphasizing

the helplessness of mankind in the face

of nature's mysterious and awesome

power.

The first thing that grabs the

attention of the audience is the

usefulness of all the various colors

which create depth in the composition,

by allowing the viewer to visualize freely

without any closed boundary. The visual

aspect that has great impact on the

canvas is the flame that appears to be

circling in a twister-like motion, moving

towards the high center of the painting.

This spiral wind carries numerous color

such as; the oranges, bright yellows,

and light pastels of browns and greens.

If the viewer keeps a close

concentration towards the painting,

then it will become evident of the two

hidden faces that are seen throughout

the canvas. One of the faces

represented are portrayed as a profile

on the right hand side. This side profile

is seen in the movement of the flames,

perhaps looking towards London’s

citizens when in a hurry to settle on the

boats to have a closer and more fixed

look on what had been occurring. There

is an olive shaped darkened spot in the

colored flame, this being the right eye

of the face. The mouth area becomes

evident as well, because of its

darkening shadow occurring in the

flame. The mouth and lips are opened,

http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/highlights/html/4896108.html


http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/trnr/hd_trnr.htm





appearing to be astonished by this

horrific setting. The second face shown

in the painting is placed on the left

hand side. Again, Turner had used the

side profile of the face. Although, this

second face seems to be more apparent

with regards to having the features

more defined, and noticeable to the

viewer’s eye. The features are formed

with the assistance of the landscape

created on canvas. The right eye of the

profiled face is modeled after the piece

of land formed on the sky blue crystal

water. The little land presented in the

image is darkened once again to

acknowledge its purpose for the piece.

The face is featured with a straight long

and narrow nose, creating character to

this specific face comparing to the

other. The reason for this is comparing

both sets of features in the faces the

second face seems to be arranged in a

stronger visual. Other than the hidden

details presented in the painting, the

importance of color use plays a fairly

huge part when dealing with the subject

matter. Considering the heaviness of

the subject matter, Turner still basses

his art around vivid color. Which can

still maintain a great impact, but

stresses less towards the serious tone

of the painting, because of these lively

colors. The space on the canvas is not

evenly distributed with regarding to the

left side appearing to be far more busy

when dealing with movements, and

once again the color. Although the artist

does form one main attraction

happening in the center frame, referring

to the flame. The constant movement

on the canvas is phenomenal,

considering the plenty happening

throughout the image. The artist still

manages to obtain a balance in the

painting without distracting the viewer

from truly grasping the beauty as well

as the tragedy presented in the

illustration.

Turner explores and experiments

with new and unusual aspects to his

painting. During the Romantic era, it

was common to have an artist pursue

their passions when illustrating their

arts. This is why I personally believe

that Turner had illustrated something

different that had even captured the

historical aspect of this specific time. I

believe he incorporated what he had

seen and what he had interpreted into

this one painting. In hopes of forming a

lively illustration that can relate with

everyone’s memory of that horrific day.





The Realism period of art was born

4between the years, 1850-1880.

Realism art refers to direct observation,

a bare representation of what is the

ordinary, to have the world observed in

its real form without any glory. This

specific art was not meant to be

touched or fixed; it was painted based

on what the artist had seen, and how

they interpreted the art without making

any alterations to please the public.

Realism 5sets as a goal not imitating

past artistic achievements but the

truthful and accurate depiction of the

models that nature and contemporary

life offer to the artist. The father of the

Realist movements was Gustave

Courbet (1819-77). The artists of this

era, had based their focus primarily

towards creating the real working class

people, and focussed less on gods and

goddesses. The artist did so to portray

the reality in the image, and less on the

imaginative aspect.

The genius to Courbet’s painting is

how he joins this large amount of color

and movement to illustrate this full

background without it appearing to be

distracting to for the observer to

analyze and understand. The space

4 Copyright © 1999-2007, HuntFor.com, All rights

reserved

http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/realism.htm

5 Copyright © 1999-2007, HuntFor.com, All rights

reserved


provided on this specific canvas is very

much opened. The image allows the

viewer to interpret the imaginative

space provided, with regards to the

distinct flow of the painting. The

illustration directs the observer’s main

attention towards the high center of the

piece. The sky and clouds are extremely

detailed referring to its color, and

shape. The strong and effective color

draws the concentration towards this

depth and calmness that both

correspond to the painting. The clouds

are in a clumped space, filled with a

contrasting color that helps

differentiate perhaps the meaning

behind the what appears to be a dream-

like sequence. Creating a mystery or

rather forming an un-answered

question regarding the true meaning

behind the image. Gustave as the artist

plays with a various pallet of colors,

which helps to develop the observers

mood of the painting. The image seems

to be set on a beach, peaceful and

dream-like scenery. The painting is

fabricated to have three levels. These

levels are detected by the use of color,

provided in each section. The sand is

darkened with a black shadow

overtaking a fairly great area in space,

this implying a lack of light, in the

bottom sector. There is a noticeable

contrast between the bottom and

middle center of the painting. The top

half of the image appears to be

generally set on a more enlightened

feel; the texture and movement in the




sky really do accentuate a lively

characteristic. Although, from the

bottom elevating to the top of the

painting, the color starts off as dark

shadings, and slowly dilute into the

whites, and baby blues seen in the sky.

At the very top of the painting we see

only then that the color of the sky drops

back to the solid black gloomy color,

resembling the sand. This can be

confusing to the observer considering

the undecided theme and subject

towards the painting.

I personally believe that Gustave’s

painting is phenomenal. The painter’s

imagination seems to have run away

with him. It really fascinates me to see

how the artist captures this fictional

aspect and is exploring it as if it were

real. It takes a true artist with vision to

allow the viewers to feel involved in this

dream.




The Impressionism period had begun

6in the mid-1880s when a group of

young artists, led by Seurat and Signac,

challenged conventional Impressionism,

applying the theories of French chemist

Chevreul, they sought a “scientific” way

of seeing the world by breaking up each

colour into its various components, and

applying these separately to canvas.

The artist’s method became known as

“pointillism” or “Neo-Impressionism.”

The artist, 7Camille Pissarro was known

as the “Father of Impressionism.” His

active year’s as an effective French

artist had begun in 1830 and had ended

in the year 1903. The artist’s earlier

works of Naturalism had been inspired

by the Realism painter Courbet, by

means of the similar color palette, and

tools to create the image. Pissarro was,

for a brief time, a convert to the style.

Instead of dots, 8he used a range of

small strokes and separate touches of

color to be applied to the canvas in a

technique of dabs with the tip of the

artists brush, with a dense application

of paint (three or four layers) results in

a highly textures surface that enhances

the tone vibrations in the picture.

The beauty that captures the audience

of their attention, is the vivid greens,

6 Montreal Museum of fine arts – Painting Description

7 Copyright 1999-2007, HuntFor.com, All rights

reserved -

http://www.huntfor.com/absoluteig/Pissarro.htm

8 Montreal Museum of fine arts – Painting Description

and lemon yellows in the painting that

contrast vibrantly with darker colors of

blue and purple to create an illusion of

shimmering sunlight and deep warm

shadows. The handle of each color

contributes to the Pissarro painting, by

allowing the interpreter to uphold this

imaginative scene. Any use of pastel

color sets off this calmness to the eye

because of its natural and soft texture.

The pastel colors never seem to be

enforced on the eye. 9Pissarro as an

artist, spent much of the last twenty

years of his life painting the area

around his in Eragny a town about sixty

miles outside of Paris. He was had been

clearly attracted to all of the mural

beauty of the landscape that

surrounded him, also considering that it

-was almost untouched by

industrialization. Although Pissarro had

a lifelong 10sympathy for the French

peasant and his restful landscape

includes the lonely figure of a sheppard

tending his flock in the far distance.

The working man appears to be in

harmony with the nature, as much

being a part of the country side as the

trees and the opened fields. We can also

see the shack in the far center of the

9 The Clark- Camille Pissarro, "Saint-Charles, Eragny,"

1891 -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgOH6KOdHAc


1891 -






painting, placed behind the two thin

barked trees, but not covering its

entirety. The shack seems to be less

evident in the image with regards to its

similar color use as the background

trees. The artist had color blended both

the clumped trees and the shake in the

same pastel color pallet. Including the;

greens, purples, blues and pinks,

creating a camouflage effect. There is a

defined calmness and beauty illustrated

on the canvas. Having the paintings

location set to be in an opened large

space, really emphasizing this deserted

overall feel. The observer can interpret

the space as a getaway, with the

associations of the imaginative color,

and forestry. For many years the

painting had been called, 11Saint-

Charles, Éragny at sunset and was

bathed with an overall yellow glow that

was later discovered to be the result of

discolored varnish. As a result of the

removed vanish; we can now be able to

see clearly the sun being held quite

high in the sky. The thin bark of the

very tall trees shield our eyes form any

unnecessary glare and then cast long

shadows across the foreground of the

canvas. The sense of balance seems to

be rather adjusting, due to the division

of painting. The painting appears to be

divided down the center into two parts.

The left side contains more shadow,


1891 -


causing the grass and bushes to emerge

a little darker than the opposed side.

The right side has very little shadow

use; it is essentially exposed by the

sun’s rays. Pissarro skilfully

incorporated vivid colours such as;

brilliant pinks next to blues and greens

in the lower left corner to help create

this optical illusion that cause parts of

the canvas to 12advance while others

withdraw from the center of the canvas.

I believe the overall effect that

Pissarro wanted to deliver on the

canvas, was to initialize this freedom of

space to allow the viewer to construe

the painting in their own way. The

pointillism technique used for this

painting has been flawlessly perfected,

and the vision of the painting has been

created very well with regards to the

light color used. Pissarro seems to be

very imaginative when illustrating his

paintings. I believe it is truly amazing to

have an artist take a first glimpse of

scenery, then having to recreate the

same idea on canvas, but having used a

new dabbed technique which I think

must take far more patience and time to

create the exact vision.


1891 -








The Impressionism period of art

began in the 19th Century, 1870-

1880’s in France. Impressionist art is

formed in an accurate and real

depiction of light such as, sunsets,

daylight, and sunlight. The common

French term used for describing this

depiction is, “en plain air”. The artistry

of the paintings would be ordinary, very

common and real, a term referred to as

“true to life”. The artists of this era had

a strong preference for creating an

image based on everyday life as their

subject matter as well as, basing their

concern towards ordinary people. Edgar

Degas who is the artist 13seems never to

have reconciled himself to the label of

"Impressionist," preferring to call

himself a "Realist" or "Independent.”

Degas had a tendency to capture

unplanned moments, then basing what

he has seen on his very first impression

of the occurrence. Throughout this era,

the artists had illustrated their works

with a great number of colors, to really

emphasise the mood of the painting.

Degas fascination with the ballet is

well known. The Degas artist had

14spent hours backstage at the Paris

Opera House drawing the dancers as

they put on their costumes, adjusted

13 © 2000–2012 The Metropolitan Museum of Art -

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dgsp/hd_dgsp.h

tm

14 Edgar Degas, "Dancers in the Classroom," c. 1880 -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLIBDRVww80

their shoes, performed their routines

and slumped exhausted in the wings

when the performance was over.

Degas’s 15 drawings then became the

raw material upon which the artist was

faced his oil paintings and his wax

sculptures back in his studio, then

carefully structures composition reflects

not only Degas interest in drawing in

perspective but also his knowledge at

the flattened forms, elegant lines, and

opened spaces founded Japanese

woodblock prints that began to appear

in Europe in the middle of the 19th

century. In this long horizontal painting

the dancers are dispersed, filling the

entirety of the image. The dancers are

either, sitting and standing and or

stretching around the walls of this very

large rehearsal room. Their bodies

posed so that our eyes are led from the

seated figures in the foreground on the

right to the smaller figures on the left.

Balancing on one leg, and resting their

other foot on the bar. The artist still

maintains to catch the grace of the

ballerina dancers, while having included

the exhaustion presented on their faces,

because of the competitive nature of

dance and all the un-seen effort and

dedication that is put into it. He

incorporates the delicacy of each dancer

individually as well as incorporating this

15 Edgar Degas, "Dancers in the Classroom," c. 1880 -


http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/imml/hd_imml.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rlsm/hd_rlsm.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dgsp/hd_dgsp.htm





sort of drain and fatigue in the dance

studio. Every single dancer appears to

be isolated from one another, perhaps

in the habit of competition or rather in

order for the dancers to remain

focussed and centered with themselves

in preparation for their routines. Degas

has colored the scene with costume.

Each dancer is clothed with a crystal

blue tutu, and around their waists a

cotton sash that varied in color. Some

presented in the blues, and pinks, as

well as the yellows, and oranges. This

really implying more life into the

painting, also identifying each dancer as

an individual but yet still collaborates

with one another in the studio. Each

color represented in the sashes, are

also shown on the dance floor in the

studio. We can see the color from the

sashes; appear to be tinted on the beige

floor. This creating a fuller composition

with regards to having the color

distributed around the canvas, and not

only clumped in one specific area in the

painting. Degas also illustrates a

colorful fan that really does capture the

audience’s main focus. This being, the

sum of all colors used in the sashes of

the dancers, all of the colors are

incorporated in this one fan being held

in the center of the painting. The young

girl placed in the center, is half in a

shadow and the other half in the light.

The light that which enters the room

from through the windows. This one

figure ties is the whole composition; 16it

connects the foreground with the

background and the opened space on

the left with the closed space on the

right.

I visited the Montreal museum of fine

arts on the 15th of November for the

first time. I had the privilege to view the

exhibition of, ‘A History of

Impressionism’, filled with various

beautiful paintings. Throughout the

entire art exhibition, the ‘Dancers in a

Classroom’ had greatly captured my

attention, based on its pastel color and

just the overall beauty of the art of

ballet itself. Also seeing the elegancy

along with illustration really moved me

as a viewer. Degas created this painting

according to his specifications, and this

is portrayed throughout the entire

canvas.

16 Edgar Deg Edgar Degas, "Dancers in the Classroom,"

c. 1880 -






Impressionism was an era that

allowed artists to break the rules of

traditional art technique, doing so by

incorporating lively color, and freely

brushing as well as overlapping line

formation. Artists of this era were

usually set out to be creating their art

outside, in a form of open composition.

The artists would surround themselves

with working in opened areas such as,

landscapes. James Jacques Joseph

Tissot who is the artist of this

Chrysanthemum painting, was a French

painter. Tissot painted with an

17academic tightness of execution and

great attention to detail. He had

18served in the Franco Prussian war as

part of the improvised defense of Paris,

soon after Tissot moved to London

where he hoped to find wealthy

collectors interested in buying his work.

Tissot then 19lived in the fashionable

suburb of Saint-John’s wood where he

added a large conservatory to his

house.

17http://www.passion4art.com/articles/jamestissot.ht

m - By Hall Graot II

18 Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute - Copyright

© 2012, All Rights -

http://www.clarkart.edu/museum/video-

tours/index.cfm?vid=20





Several different varieties of

chrysanthemums fill the top half of

Tissot’s canvas. Large white full flowers

are scattered in blooms of other colors;

burgundy red, sunshine yellow, a pale

gold and vibrant orange on the right of

the painting and of course a light touch

of delicate lilac on the left. Tissot’s

model for his painting is a young

woman appropriately dressed in

gardening clothes; she crouches in a

rather uncomfortable position. Her face

turning towards us spectators, as if we

have surprised her therefore is slightly

imprecise. She wears a dazed looked on

her face as if she had been caught off

guard, and was not expecting to be

interrupted. 20Tissot like his friend

Degas was very interested in

photography and in fascination of the

accidental visual effects the camera can

record. It’s possible that this blurred

sudden movement is a photographic

effect, translated by Tissot into oil paint

on canvas. The movement in the

illustration is created as though it was

an actual photograph, and is less based

on a still picture. The detail in the

image is so precise that questions the

viewer into perhaps believing that it was

not created in a paint technique. The

young lady’s features are presented to

be very realistic and lively. The artist





http://www.passion4art.com/articles/jamestissot.htm


http://www.clarkart.edu/museum/video-tours/index.cfm?vid=20







uses a light shadowing for the

contouring on the bridge of the nose

and around it. Also, we see the same

shadowing technique used for the

around perimeter of the small red toned

lips. The shadowing technique used by

the artist was to enhance the existence

of the importance of the facial features,

creating this depth in the face. The

models eyes are portrayed beautifully;

the entire mood is based on her eye

connection with the audience. In this

painting the eyes play a huge role based

on the importance, and message sent

willingly to the viewer. A primary focus

is directed towards the yellow sun hat

resting on the lady’s head.

Complementing this accessory with a

thick black ribbon tied around the vivid

yellow hat. This being an evident

contrast, from having two solid colors

placed together, with the indifference of

tone and obvious meaning. The

woman’s attire, ties in all of the aspects

of the painting together, because of its

similar color pallet. The artist sums up

the whole painting by capturing the

variety of shape and color. If carefully

looking at the top left hand corner of

the composition, you might be able to

see the frame of the conservatory

windows. 21For Europeans in the 19th

century, chrysanthemums were exotic





flowers from where originated from the

far east. They were valued by artists

with a splendid variety and by

22horticulturalists for their late

blooming abundance. However

chrysanthemums were also associated

with sickness and death. 23Tissot

himself included them in a painting

called, “The widow” in 1868. The young

woman in this painting is removing

some of the withered stems from the

soil ground. Perhaps the artist was

proposing a reminder that even the

beauty of these splendid flowers will

not last forever.
















The work of Tissot had been very

playful with regards to being colorful,

and illustrating a hopefulness to the

canvas. I love the colours and the clever

use of yellow in the figure creating a

more active effect. The beauty in the

painting becomes this reality, because it

seems so real. The image seems like it’s

going to pop out at you at any moment.

The illustration is favored by me as a

viewer, because of its evident beauty

seen in the countless Chrysanthemum

flowers, and the hidden beauty seen on

the young woman’s face. Inspired work

by Tissot.




Bibliography

1. http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/hi

ghlights/html/4896108.html



3. © 2000–2012 The Metropolitan Museum

of Art -

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tr

nr/hd_trnr.htm



5. Copyright © 1999-2007, HuntFor.com,

All rights reserved -

http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19t

h/realism.htm

6. World Book Encyclopedia, World Book,

Inc., Vol. 10, 1991.

The New Grolier Multimedia

Encyclopedia, The Software Toolworks,

1993

7. © 2000–2012 The Metropolitan Museum

of Art -

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/d

gsp/hd_dgsp.htm

8. Edgar Degas, "Dancers in the

Classroom," c. 1880 -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLIB

DRVww80

9. Montreal Museum of fine arts – Painting

Description

10. Copyright 1999-2007, HuntFor.com, All

rights reserved -

http://www.huntfor.com/absoluteig/Piss

arro.htm

11. The Clark- Camille Pissarro, "Saint-

Charles, Eragny," 1891 -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgO

H6KOdHAc

12. http://www.passion4art.com/articles/ja

mestissot.htm - By Hall Groat II

13. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

- Copyright © 2012, All Rights -

http://www.clarkart.edu/museum/video

-tours/index.cfm?vid=20

14. Fun Facts William Turner

http://boonfellow.blogspot.ca/2011/01

/13-facts-about-jmw-turner.html

15. Fun Facts Gustave Courbet

http://www.famousbirthdays.com/peopl

e/gustave-courbet.html

16. Fun Facts Camille Pissarro

http://www.biography.com/people/cami

lle-pissarro-9441740

17. Fun Facts Edgar Degas ©2012 Ask.com -

http://www.ask.com/answers/4209298

1/what-is-an-interesting-fact-about-

edgar-degas

http://www.slideshare.net/Nevele/edgar

-degas-4330122#btnNext

18. Fun Facts James Jacques Joseph Tissot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiss

ot























http://boonfellow.blogspot.ca/2011/01/13-facts-about-jmw-turner.html

http://boonfellow.blogspot.ca/2011/01/13-facts-about-jmw-turner.html

http://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/gustave-courbet.html

http://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/gustave-courbet.html

http://www.biography.com/people/camille-pissarro-9441740

http://www.biography.com/people/camille-pissarro-9441740

http://www.ask.com/answers/42092981/what-is-an-interesting-fact-about-edgar-degas



http://www.slideshare.net/Nevele/edgar-degas-4330122#btnNext

http://www.slideshare.net/Nevele/edgar-degas-4330122#btnNext

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tissot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tissot


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