Claude Debussy And Vincent Van Gogh As Major Figures Of Impressionism

The Impressionist era began in the eighteenth century in France and thus it is also referred to as “French Impressionnisme.” The style of impressionism became prominent between 1870-1925. Its style focuses on conveying the mood, atmosphere and emotion through the arts. Characteristics of impressionism in art include techniques of short brushstrokes and fluid lines that cause objects to be present without containing harshly drawn lines. Additionally, it was very common for the impressionist artists to paint outdoors which caused the finished piece to capture a sense of natural light and colors. The “Encyclopedia Britannica” describes, “The most conspicuous characteristic of Impressionism in painting was an attempt to accurately and objectively record visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and colour. In music, it was to convey an idea or affect through a wash of sound rather than a strict formal structure”.

In Impressionist music, composers utilized a somewhat unconventional approach to some aspects of music. For example, impressionism in music consists of a break from conventional harmony and tone structure. Additionally, impressionist music doesn’t necessarily have a specific rhythm but instead employs a pentatonic scale (which has five notes per octave rather than the traditional seven or eight octaves.)

One of the most important and influential Impressionist composers was Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Debussy was born into a very poor family on August 22, 1862 in a city in France called Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He was the first-born of five children to parents, Victorine Manoury and Manuel-Achille Debussy. Claude showed signs of musical interest and talent at an early age. He began playing piano at a young age and what may be counted as turning point for Debussy’s musical career was when Madame Maute de Fleurville listened to ten-year-old Debussy playing piano and “encouraged [his mother] to direct him towards a career as a virtuoso, and she gave the child such a solid preparation at the piano, and free of charge, that he was ready to compete for a place in the classes of the Paris Conservatoire on 22 October of the following year” (A Portrait of Claude Debussy 17). There, Debussy studied music at the Paris Conservatory and one of his music teachers, Antoine Marmontel described Debussy as “a true artistic temperament; much can be expected of him. At the yearly examination Achille had played a Rondo and Fugue of Mozart, and six months later, in July 1874, he won a second certificate of merit with his performance of the Second Piano concerto of Chopin” (Debussy: His Life and Mind; 23). Eventually, Debussy grew increasingly interested in composing music and thus became his vocation.

Debussy is considered the first Impressionist composer. The unconventional and unorthodox style that Claude Debussy was drawn to caused him to be not only very influential in the Impressionist music but also admired for years to come. His pieces often lacked a distinctive rhythm pattern and he did not shy away from attempting what was considered musically daring. As a result of his willingness to be experimental in adding certain new and unconventional musical techniques to his pieces, Debussy was very impactful in the landscape of the musical scene during the Impressionist era. Robert d. Wilder describes Debussy’s style in the book Twentieth-Century Music as he says, “In much of Debussy’s music there is an absence of strong melodic line and pronounced meter, two elements which normally contribute to a condition of form and unity. Instead, Debussy provides us with wisps and fragments which suggest, but do not complete, a whole melodic phrase. It follows that his style is rarely contrapuntal and that he is not often given to the technical usage of exhaustive motive-development” (17).

Some of Claude Debussy’s major orchestral works include Rêverie (1890), Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894), Notturni (1899), La Mer (1905) and Images pour Orchestre (1912). Debussy’s works seemed to have been inspired by nature and outdoors. One of his most famous works, La Mer (translated to “The Sea”) was composed in 1905 and has three movements: “From Dawn to Noon on the Sea,” ‘Play of the Waves,” and “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea.” As the name suggests, the piece was inspired by the sea. The rhythm of the piece imitates the movement of the sea through it’s sudden, sometimes abrupt, increase in loudness and change in tempo. For example, during the beginning of the first movement, the tempo is andante but then a growing crescendo emerges and then the tempo becomes allegro. This piece is an example of Debussy’s unique style because he doesn’t rely on traditional, constant crescendo in La Mer but instead employs calculated, sudden changes in loudness and intensity. The flow of the piece grows seems to increase in dramaticness as each movement progresses. The eccentric nature of the piece captures the attention of the listener while simultaneously evoking a sense of anticipation and excitement at some moments, then calmness and serenity at other times. Debussy masterfully causes La Mer to be both exciting, yet also suspenseful.

A significant artist from the Impressionist Era is Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh was a virtually fully self-taught Dutch artist who although had a career of less than ten years, had a great influence in the world of art because of his color-filled, bold and self-portraying style. Not only did he have a short career as an artist, but also a short life span. He was born to Anna Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh on March 30, 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands and died on July 29, 1890 when he shot himself when he was just thirty-seven years old.

Young, sixteen year old Van Gogh was emerged into the art scene when his uncle gave him a job as an art dealer. This opportunity exposed Van Gogh to various art styles which he learned to appreciate. Some of his favorite artists included, “Rembrandt, Hals, Ruysdael, and the leaders of school, Constable, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Turner, and old Crome. He decorated his room with reproductions of his favorite paintings, among them a portrait of Corot, and it was at this time that he began to love and admire the world of Millet, who influenced him throughout his life (Van Gogh: Paintings and Drawings: 13)

In his younger years, Van Gogh experienced heartbreak when a girl he fell in love with rejected him in 1874. This expereince was a turning point in Van Gogh’s life because the rejected changed Van Gogh’s outlook and personality and pushed him into further isolation. The grief felt by Van Gogh through this experience crept into his works and caused him to use art as an outlet for his emotions which therefore caused his pieces to be increasingly emotion-filled and expressive.

Van Gogh had a troublesome life and was considered in some aspects an “outsider.” He had various psychiatric problems. One episode of his mental illness him caused him to cut off his left ear lobe and another lead him to eventually admit himself in an asylum in Saint Rémy. Van Gogh lived a life of poverty and struggles. Though he painted and drew thousands of pieces, he only sold one during his lifetime. He didn’t have much success during his lifetime, instead his popularity and influence grew after his death. It is described, “Van Gogh emerged the archetype of the romantic artist as the nine-teenth century conceived him: a lonely man, working in poverty and misunderstanding so that future generations could take him to their hearts and cry, “Here is a neglected genius” (Van Gogh: Paintings and Drawings: 7).

Van Gogh’s post-imperssionalist style opened the gates for modern art in the future. His techniques of combining bright colors with watercolor colors inspired many artsits during his day and still inspires artsits now. Café Terrace at Night, for example, is a colorfully vibrant oil painting Van Gogh did in 1888. It displays a calm, lovely scene of a patio outisde a cafe. The use of various saturation and value levels in the color of the painting portray a colorful, yet nighttime stage. The side of the building of the cafe itself stands out and seems to be the focal point of the piece because it’s gold color is brighter and more eye-catching than the other more serene color palletes Van Gogh chose. Van Gogh uses linear perspective to show objects further into the distance down the street beyond the cafe. The linear perspective technique in this painting seems to poke at the imagination of the audienece. An observer is so captured by the rich colors used to create whimisical, midnight environment that when they get to the edge of the painting their imagination would continue on to imagine what is further up the street that Van Gogh painted.

Both Claude Debussy and Vincent Van Gogh had an impactful influence on the arts during their years and beyond. They are still recognized as some of the greats and their timeless work will be observed and admired for their specific contributions to the stylistic era of Imperssionist art in years to come.