After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art

London’s National Gallery

With over 100 works, After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art at London’s National Gallery explores the almost 30 years before the First World War when the Continent’s leading artists of the time were laying the foundations for modern art.

Most notably, the exhibition highlights the work of Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin. Their paintings serve as a touchstone, allowing museum-goers to not only follow their artistic breakthroughs but also to trace their significant influence across Europe, in art-hubs such as Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, and Vienna.

Of these three pivotal figures, the pieces by Gauguin stand out for their singular vision. From his experimental sculptures to the five paintings shown side by side, he uniquely translates and flattens space while dismantling naturalism. For example, Gauguin’s 1888 painting The Wave collapses volume and space onto a two-dimensional surface. Seen from above, the horizon is eliminated. We gaze at the turbulent sea and the swirls within the surf as they beat against craggy cliffs and the barren blood red sand where two stragglers, clad in black, appear to be flailing towards safety in the top right corner of the painting.

The Wine Harvest, another 1888 piece by Gauguin reveals key artistic differences with Van Gogh which resulted in an argument between the two. At the time, both artists were living and painting together in Arles. The painting in question is a moody and melancholic rendering of harvesting which conflates details from Brittany and Arles. One of the harvesters, resembling a Peruvian mummy, sits forlorn, against a backdrop of women working in the field. Gauguin’s painting mixes symbolism and impressionism while also bringing to the forefront Gauguin’s belief on the primacy of recollection and subjective feeling over direct observation. These ideas provoked an argument with the two artists such that Gauguin departed from Arles abruptly.

The Van Gogh pieces that were exhibited from Landscape with Ploughman to Snow-Covered Field with a Harrow (After Millet) are touching and evocative if not traditional and expected. Though it is worth noting the range of colors which Van Gogh plays with from the evocative purples of the former to the somber, icy blues and greens of the latter. Though Van Gogh’s pieces rely heavily on direct observation the artist would turn to color to evoke a powerful sense of mood.

Amidst the big names and famed pieces (be sure to take a minute or two to dote on Gustav Klimt’s jewel-toned Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II) quieter gems can be found such as The Artist’s Mother by the Austrian Broncia Koller-Pinell. Set against a flat gold background, Koller-Pinell depicts her mother engaged in traditional women’s work in a manner that is refreshing and respectful. Seated on a wicker chair, possibly designed by Joseff Hoffmann, Koller-Pinell’s mother’s skill and dedication shines.

Koller-Pinell’s piece is not the only painting which explores women’s roles and identities. For example, the 1911 painting Nana, Female Nude by the German painter Lovis Corinth is noteworthy for its depiction of the female form. Corinth, inspired by Emile Zola’s 1880 novel Nana, paints the titular character in all of her bodily glory. In the novel, Nana delights in the physicality of her body and its power over men. Corinth’s painting fuses expressionism and impressionism, and with quick brush strokes, Nana’s nude form fills the canvas. She appears in motion; her fleshy body leans back and she uses her arms to squeeze her breasts forward and into the viewer’s face. The image is in stark juxtaposition to Édourd Manet’s 1877 painting Nana, not on view, where the proactive woman in question stands in the midst of her toilette before an elegantly clothed man, partially seen seated on the right hand side of the painting. Her face is turned towards the spector, yet the image’s provocative nature is only hinted at. Nonetheless, the image was too forward thinking for the time and was rejected by the Salon of Paris for its depiction of prostitution. Corinth’s Nana, unlike Manet’s paintings, is remarkably refreshing as a modern nude where the idealized female form is seen with candor and vitality.

As the exhibition progresses, new terrains are highlighted in the form of art which reimagined and constructed new definitions of ‘primitivism.’ Women artists, such as Paula Modersohn-Becker and Sonia Delaunay, seized on the growing opportunities of independence to travel throughout Europe while exploring their craft. As artists experimented in the first decades of the 20th century, Fauvism and Cubism came to the forefront with works by Henrie Matisse and André Derain for the former and Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso for the later.

Taken as a whole, the exhibition touches on all of the great moments and highpoints from the period. Unfortunately, it is also an unimaginative exhibition. This is tried and true territory that is and will continue to be covered in textbooks and introductory art history classes. The exhibition does not play with pre-existing conventions or ideas, rather it roots itself in what is known. There is nothing groundbreaking here. New ground is not covered. You will not walk away with your mind blown. However, the show is unequivocally beautiful and an ode to beauty at its finest.

Kiran Gill is a writer from New England living in London.