Impressionism
The artistic techniques used by the Impressionists (or the ‘insurgents’) had been used occasionally by other painters in history, but never collectively and so effectively. One of the most characteristic techniques adopted by the insurgents was painting en plein air (meaning outdoors). They did this to directly capture the natural light effects of the scene before them, producing lively and fresh (plein) artworks. In these outdoor paintings, these new artists ingeniously repeated the tones of blue they saw in the sky in the bold shadows they painted, ensuing a feeling of openness and freshness in the art. Some paintings were done under the stars; in the evening, and as a result captured shadowy and twilit scenes. Thick, short brushstrokes (oft applied impasto) were the impressionistic way of depicting their vision and supporting their artistic ideals: to capture the true nature and essence of their subject, ignoring the minute details. ‘Impression’, in French, can mean snapshot. And in order to live up to their name, the impressionists frequently cropped their paintings (especially Monsieur Degas), enforcing the capturing of subjectively beautiful scenes in a moment. Pure impressionists, such as Renoir, despised the use of black, and instead mixed complementary colours to produce dark tones. Les Insurgés stressed and focused on the way natural light plays upon objects, especially in accordance with the reflection of colour from each object, and to emphasize this, colour was applied juxtaposed, if possible without blending, to give the painting’s surface a bright, pulsing and energetic surface, caused by the optical mixing of colour in the viewer’s eye. Lastly, wet-on-wet painting, the application of wet paint as a successive layer onto paint which is still wet, was incorporated to yield the effects of soft-edged objects that dissolve into the scene.

Neo-impressionism
The artistic purpose of the neo-impressionists, led and founded by Georges Seurat, was to create a disciplined and refined type of artistic expression which meditated upon order and eternity, in blunt contrast to the ephemerality and intuition begotten by the Impressionists. Earnestly driven by their aesthetic principles, they attempted to purify the feeling-based impulsiveness of the Impressionists’ artistic style. The techniques of Pointillism and Divisionism combined, which dominated early neo-impressionistic technique, were the methods developed by Georges Seurat to accomplish his aesthetic ideals. Pointillism involves the specific method in which paint is applied with the brush onto the canvas, and Divisionism is focused on scientific colour theory. Pointillism: short blocks or points of colour are applied individually onto the canvas creating precise, reasonably geometric form, thus instilling an idea of order and immovability. Divisionism: the dots and short strokes of pure colour are placed side by side, in a range of tones according to the laws of colour theory in order to show form, which relies upon the optical mixing of colour in the viewers’ eye, intended to create a distinct luminous effect about the artworks.

Post-impressionism
The term Post-impressionism is used in a historical sense to describe the artistic period that developed from Impressionism, beginning in 1886 and ending some 20 years or so later, and contained a series of artists younger than the impressionists, who rejected the limitations of Impressionism and created different principles in the way that line, form, pattern and colour should be used, whilst keeping the Impressionist use of intense colours and thick (impasto) brush strokes. To extend Impressionism, these later Impressionists distorted natural figures for their own expression, emphasized geometric form, and incorporated unnatural and impulsive use of colour. But, unfittingly for an artistic movement, the Post-impressionists did not altogether think alike, and could not agree on the direction to take the art. Vincent van Gogh frequently used vibrant, agitated and swirling brush strokes in his technique, which created patterns and distortions that reflected his mind-state and feelings. Paul Cézanne strongly desired to turn Impressionism into something “solid and durable, like the art of museums.” And so reduced objects to fundamental shapes, pertaining to vibrant, Insurgent colour, producing solid and durable effects in his art that yielded the depiction of three dimensional form, similar to that of the Neo-classicists’. Paul Gauguin applied broad areas of paint and colour – flattening the figures he depicted and producing unnatural, decorative patterns and effects.