Impressionism is the transition of western painting from tradition to modernity and from realism to freehand brushwork. It was at this time that the technical system of realism was completed. For the artistic tradition of western painting based on realism, impressionist painting pushed the subject of realism to an extreme state, which can also be said to be the last stage of realism's concern for art, but for the last stream of realism system based on objective image reproduction, impressionism was indeed the first declarer to raise the rebel flag. Although it is ostensibly based on real things, its essence lies in the freedom of the subject's creation, and the subjective tendency is obvious, but the transmission of all subjective ideas is based on the realistic technical system and concepts. I understand this creation as subjectivization of objective things.
When I saw Monet's Sunrise. Impression ",the vertical and horizontal filling of large color blocks and almost brush-like freehand brushwork, or the colorful effect of point-to-surface combination, or thick layers of thick colors, have to gasp in admiration that this is the result of such" subjectivization of objective things ",because I did not get rid of the tradition of realism in the technical system, but added some" expressions "on the basis of reproduction, and reached a certain degree of balance between expression and reproduction. So, I am at sunrise. In my impression, the undulating waterline is only "written" with different shades of paint. The figures rowing on the lake are outlined and painted in black tones, which is like that, but it is not like that. Ships and smoke in the distance are just "piled up" with gray-black pigments or painted or dyed, but the outline in the distance is so clear. The whole water surface and the lake in the distance are surrounded by a cool atmosphere, while the dawn in the distance in the sky adds a warm atmosphere. The author draws the sky horizontally and vertically with mixed colors of cold and warm, because the impressionist masters don't wash the used pens after painting a layer. If new colors are needed, they just dip them in the previously used pens to form the effect of color accumulation and daubing. Therefore, the color of the sky forms a mixture of cold and warm colors in the real scene seen by the author, which is also in line with the real visual feeling that the sky is not completely lit up at sunrise. The only striking thing in the whole picture is that a red sun is added to the cool sky, adding a touch of bright color and a little finishing touch to the whole cool-oriented picture. What a real sunrise scene it is, a vague feeling. But whether the author's "meaning" permeates it or not, the only certain feeling is that the objective scenery written according to the scenes and emotions reveals the author's love for nature. As an artist, of course, you should have a love for nature and some strong feelings as the driving force to support their creation.
Deliberately let the subjective colors of feelings and interests naturally reveal themselves, and implement them on the canvas through their real brushes and visual reflections on natural scenery. Impressionist parties are naturally so obsessed that the "writing" of large color blocks has become an active aesthetic demand. The colorful colors painted with a pen or painted vertically and horizontally or piled up into a plane not only reflect the objective acceptance effect of vision on natural scenery, but also reflect the expression of the author's subjective feelings. For the Impressionists, the objective light and color changes in front of them really fell on the canvas objectively, but "writing" and "painting" contained the expressions of "meaning" and "emotion". Wenduri said: "I have long understood that art must not be dominated by natural laws, but a completely different and independent reality." This is of course reflected in art, not necessarily directly describing society, but "embodying this ideal with personalized scenery." This personifies the landscape. In my opinion, it may represent the subjectivity of objective things. To settle vision and feeling with objective nature, and to see nature through temperament eyes, "these temperament eyes" must be the melting pot of subjective objective nature, and exert what they see through subjective experience. Although they follow the realistic technical system and concept, this subjective connotation has overflowed. The so-called "personalized scenery" is the subjectivization of objective scenery. This artistic concept is very important in impressionism and is the soul of painting. Don't just wander your eyes in the colorful scenery they describe, because although it is the truth you see, there is also "meaning" permeating it.
The form of impressionism is also a "meaningful form". It does not simply pursue the effect of light and color, but its freehand brushwork and China's freehand brushwork are close to each other. The noblest painting is poetry, and I think impressionist paintings are closest to poetry and music.
The arrival of modernism is a reflection of an artistic spirit under the background of scientific and social development. Many people can't find a way out, so they go to anti-scientific rationalism, escape the contradiction of reality and seek comfort from mysticism and the other side of the world. Symbolism in such a social atmosphere is not a general subjectivist movement or a general subjectivist tendency, but adds a special color. Speaking of the similarities between symbolism and impressionism, it further develops subjectivization and respects it to the supreme position. Although impressionism reveals itself in nature with "emotion" and "meaning", it is far from falling into the subjective tendency of symbolism. In order to show that symbolism is different from other schools, theorist Moles said that they "don't objectify objective things, but the fundamental purpose of art is to objectify subjective things, that is, objectify ideas, which is also an externalization of ideas. The so-called natural view in the eyes of temperament is a realistic proposition. Their foothold is inseparable from the objective nature, and the starting point and destination of symbolism lies in the idea, the dreamy thing of the soul, and the thoughts existing in the mind are dreamily and objectively implemented on the screen. Just as "all this is like a monologue, like painting, like Bach's music, basically no audience is needed." "An objective reflection of thought fragments from the heart.
Symbolism and realism are opposites, and the most obvious manifestation of them is not to give up the techniques of realism, but to give up the attitude that realism reflects real life in essence, which is the creative source of artistic concepts. Impressionist freehand brushwork comes from the understanding of objective scenery and light color, while symbolism is an "objective art" to express its intention through an objective brush stroke.
Speaking of symbolism, I think the most representative one is Scream written by Monk. For the creation of "Scream", Monk explained it this way: One evening, he walked on the pier by the sea and watched the sun set, almost feeling a fear of the soul. Therefore, after he came back, he left his inner fears and illusory intentions on the canvas "objectively", which was the result of his inner objectification of hallucinations and fears, from which we can better understand the artistic purpose advocated by symbolism-objectification of subjective things. Scream presents a picture with a cool tone, which seems to be somewhat similar to Impression of Sunrise, but their creative sources are completely different. It is not only the difference of subjective feelings, but also based on different creative viewpoints and different understandings. The water surface on the sea and the distant scenery are cold gray and black, which gives the audience a feeling of depression and fear. Although the color of the trestle is a bit bright, it is also so casual. What the author wants to highlight is the screaming human body, and the head is abstracted with a simple skeleton. This is not only the author's cry, but also the cry of human beings-fear of reality, illusion and ambiguity of feelings. The khaki skeleton is crying in the wind, and the afterglow of the sunset in the distance is warm, which adds a touch of warmth to this dull picture with cold colors. Does this little warm color represent the hope that is about to be lost? In the face of this broken hope, can people wandering in the gray and black not make a terrible "cry"?
Understanding the creative origin of Scream in the author's mind is closer to the connotation of symbolism-objectification of subjective things. They objectively turned the subjective mystery brought by escaping from this era into art, which is the objective externalization of subjective concepts.
Impressionist Impression of Sunrise and symbolic Scream typically reflect that different factions in these two different times are completely different in artistic concepts and artistic purposes. The subjectivity of objective things and the objectification of subjective things, the inversion of which is like putting the cart before the horse in a dramatic way, shows the different artistic views and characteristics of the two factions. However, the difference between them is not an end point problem, let alone a struggle, but two independent ones.