Западноевропейское искусство от Хогарта до Сальвадора Дали

Клод Моне является истинным главой школы импрессионистов. В его произведениях воплотилась основная идея импрессионизма – идея света и воздуха. Мир Моне с его растворяющимися предметами постепенно лишается материальности и превращается в гармонию световых пятен.

Моне нередко писал один и тот же вид в разное время суток и в разное время года. Таковы его серии «Стога» и «Руанский собор». Беглыми, как будто небрежными мазками Моне создавал впечатление колышущегося от ветра поля или полной движения улицы Парижа. Он мог запечатлеть и знойное марево летнего дня, и влажный снег французской зимы. Все схвачено как бы случайно, но увидено зорким взглядом художника.

Моне прошел все этапы: он знал нищету, непризнание, насмешки, затем приобрел известность, переросшую в триумф. Моне пережил свою славу. Он был свидетелем того, как устаревали его идеи, которым он был верен до конца жизни.

VI. Summarize the text

VII. Topics for discussion.

1. Impressionism.

2. Monet's principles and methods of painting.

3. Monet's artistic heritage.

Unit XII Pissarro And Renoir

An extremely gifted member of the Impressionist group was Camille Pissarro (1830-1903). He was the most careful and craftsmanly of them all. His companionship and advice provided a technical foundation for Cezanne, who called him «humble and colossal». Pissarro is both in the scrupulously painted Boulevard des Italien, Paris – Morning Sunlight, of 1897. With infinite care he recorded the innumerable spots of colour constituted by people, carriages, omnibuses, trees, windows, and kiosks in this view of one of the great metropolitan thoroughfares, whose activities provided the subject for many Impressionist paintings. Impressionist artists often worked side by side painting the same view of a street, a cafe, or a riverbank at the same moment of light and atmosphere, and it is often only the special sensibility and personal touch of each painter that makes it possible to tell their works apart.

The sparkling Les Grands Boulevards, of 1875, by Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) shows how much latitude remained for individuality in treating a similar subject at the height of the collective phase of the Impressionist movement. Renoir, the most exciting and active of the group, has not bothered with details. He has captured a moment of high excitement as we look across a roadway from the shadow of the trees to the trotting white horse pulling a carriage filled with people in blazing sun. Warmth, physical delight, and intense joy of life are the perpetual themes of Renoir. Trained at first as a painter on porcelain, he later studied with the academic painter Charles Gleyre and soon made the acquaintance of the Impressionist group, with whom he exhibited until 1886.

The best painting of the Impressionist highest point is Renoir's Le Moulin de la Galette, of 1876, depicting a Sunday afternoon in a popular outdoor dancing cafe on Montmartre. Young couples are gathered at tables under the trees, or dancing happily through the changing interplay of sunlight and shadow Characteristically, there is no trace of black, even the coats and the shadows turn to blue. One could scarcely imagine a more complete embodiment of the fundamental theme of Impressionist painting, the enjoyment of the moment of light and air. Although he later turned toward a Post-Impressionist style, Renoir never surpassed the beauty of this picture, which sums up visually the goal he once expressed in words: «The earth as the paradise of the gods, that is what I want to paint».

Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:

Camille Pissarro; paradise; Auguste Renoir; perpetual; Post-Impressionist; thoroughfare; companionship; acquaintance; Montmartre; boulevard [

Notes

Boulevard des Italien, Paris – Morning Sunlight – «Итальянский бульвар. Париж»

Les Grands Boulevards – «Большие Бульвары»

Le Moulin de la Galette – «Мулен де ла Галетт»

Charles Gleyre – Чарльз Глейр, швейцарский художник, в студии которого собирались импрессионисты

Tasks

I. Read the text. Make sure you understand it. Mark the following statements true or false.

1. Cezanne called Renoir «humble and colossal».

2. Pissarro, the most exciting and active of the group, never bothered with details.

3. Impressionist artists often worked side by side painting the same view of a street, a cafe, or a riverbank at the same moment of light and atmosphere.

4. Pissarro was the most exciting and active of the group.

5. At first Renoir was trained as a sculptor.

6. Pissarro exhibited with the Impressionist group until 1886.