The term Post Impressionism does not refer to a well-defined art movement. Instead, it refers to a group of artists who were all influenced by Impressionism but who took their art in different directions. The group includes Van Gogh, Cezanne, Toulouse Lautrec, Gaugin, and others.

Although Post Impressionism does not refer to a specific art style, some smaller art movements were associated with some of the Post Impressionist artists. For example, Cloisonnism and Synthetism. The latter marked an important divergence from the more traditional approach to art, which tended to emphasize the draughtsmanship aspects of art. Instead, Synthetism emphasized the artist’s emotional reaction to their subject.

One of the artists associated with both Cloisonnism and Synthetism was Emile Bannard. Although he is maybe not as well known as some of the other Post Impressionists, he played an essential part in the birth of modern art. Modern art moved away from art as a technical pursuit driven by tradition to art as an individual pursuit driven by feelings, emotions, and experimentation.

The traditionalists were not impressed with this new art. Bannard was expelled from a Parisian art school for being too expressive. To me, this sums up the difference between the modernist approach to art and the traditional approach. How can art be too expressive? The idea seems ridiculous to me. Art devoid of expression and emotion is just a collection of cold dead images.

This video explores these ideas further.

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