| 
1:
Turner's Legacy
2: From Realism to the 'Impression'
3: Whistler's 'Nocturnes'
4: Painting in Series
5: Turner and the Thames
6: Return to the Thames
7: Venice
Room 2: From Realism to
the 'Impression'
|
Room 2: From Realism to the 'Impression'
Tate Photography |
This room looks at the early careers of Whistler and Monet, which
in some ways ran along parallel lines. Both first made their mark
as 'realist' painters of contemporary life, but by the 1870s both
became preoccupied with the effects of light and atmosphere.
Whistler came under the influence of the Realists
when he studied art in Paris. They responded to a call from the
poet and critic Charles Baudelaire to reject academic subjects,
such as history and mythology, and instead paint the life of the
city streets around them. Whistler brought this approach with him
to London in 1859, where he painted the heavily-polluted Thames
in earthy blacks and browns. He also studied Turner's paintings,
using increasingly fluid paint in order to capture the unique atmospheric
conditions of the smog-filled city.
Monet arrived in London in 1870, a refugee from the
Franco-Prussian war. Here he met Whistler, and saw the work of Turner
for the first time. Under Whistler's influence he painted three
views of the city, fascinated by the light effects produced by its
fogs and overcast skies. This interest in atmospheric effect contributed
to his transition from a realist to an impressionist approach to
landscape.
|
Enlarge
image