The Impressionism
It’s been known throughout the years that students are rebels. The youth is not afraid to challenge the world and it wouldn’t be different when it came to art. It all began at the university of arts in Paris in the late 1880s. Artists became unhappy about the way the academy was teaching their students how to paint. The reality idealized, the world as “it should be” instead of how it really is.
Manet was one of the firsts, his art reflected a new aesthetic, the perfection of classical subject was replaced by spontaneous brush strokes, fragmented colours and natural lightning. The illusory three-dimensional portrait was gone, replaced by paintings that reflected the moment, the world as we see it, the outside instead of the The forms lost their clear outlines, small brushes and colour mixes recreated the moment as it is. The movement had many followers like Claude Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and others.
They shocked the art world at the time and they were not afraid to do so. Not allowed to be part of the Salon of the French Academy in 1874, they held their own show and Monet’s painting “Impression: Sunrise” was what inspired the name “Impressionists”.
The result is an image that represents a period in time, it can be a second, a look or even a feeling. You can look at it twenty different times and each and every one of those times you will see something different, feel something different, and that is what I relate to. When we are kids we are not afraid of playing with the brushes and paint the world in many colours. Adult life is a different story, there are rules to follow, the colour pallet gets smaller and the frames are back in place. The impressionists showed us that life shouldn’t be perfect, the imperfections make things real.
Let’s be real.
Art is about emotion. If you need to explain it, it is no longer art.
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. John Lennon once sang it in one of his songs and it makes one wonder. Modern life is all about making plans. Parents plan about having kids, kids plan about going to school, young adults plan about university and getting a job, adults plan their career, seniors plan their retirement and so it goes on. People plan their vacations, when and where to have fun, what to do or even make a plan to not plan anything at all.
This is a social movement dated to the beginning of ages, when societies were formed. Planning is about order and control. There is a sense of safety added to the idea that one is aware of what comes next. The movement can sometimes be broken by isolated events, sudden changes in one’s life or reality that turns things upside down and a new plan is required. The unknown comes with a sense of uncertainty, instability and in some cases, fear. When something breaks, it has to be fixed of replaced.
Covid-19 has broken the old plan, started locally, and spreading in high speed, reached villages, cities, countries, continents. Suddenly the old plan is gone, so is the old reality. The outside was replaced by the inside. Social interaction replaced by social distancing and the collective was replaced by the individual.
The movement is stopped and time is standing still. The new plan is yet to be discovered and for now the sign hangs at the door: “Sorry we are closed”.
“Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans”.
JOHN LENNON
Walk in the garden
Spring is finally here. Flowers come around and the world gets more colorful. Out with the dark and in with the light. That translates in clothing as well. Bright colors, prints, textiles, you name it. A garden lover herself, Audrey Hepburn was famous not only for movie characters like Holly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s but also for the series “Gardens of the World”, so it seems only right that she should be the one to accompany us.
Gardens are all about nature, simplicity, being close to one’s self, so take of your shoes and walk around.
“In the mood for spring”.
Looks to inspire.