Above all, it is worth starting to determine what the avant-garde is, despite the fact that the direction is extremely popular nowadays, it appeared about 100 years ago at the beginning of the last 20th century. At that time, all old ideas seemed to be exhaustive, while the familiar art form reflected the artist's intuition already seemed irrelevant, so artists were looking for new ways of self-realisation and began to reject the traditional form of art.
The origins of the avant-garde are the works of Van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin, the greatest masters of post-Impressionism, who have formed the basis of the avant-garde movement.
Paul Cézanne (19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906)
Cézanne's work has been dynamic, and throughout his life the artist has undergone major changes. Beginning as a romantic, almost an anarchist in painting, he eventually came to rigour and self-discipline. His aim was to reconcile the covenants of the old masters (with their spiritual combustion and fine-tuned technique) with the fresh and vivid manner typical of 19th century European innovator artists. One is portraits. The second one is scenes that are the fruit of the artist's fantasy. The third is still lifes. For example, still lifes that actively emphasise form and colourfulness, showing something monumental, were an innovation that began to be highly valued. The profound changes in the artist's work date back to the early 1870s and are linked to the name of Camille Pissarro. It was Pissarro who advised Cézanne not to disregard the landscape. He was also the one who helped the aspiring artist overcome his predilection for dark tones and discover the advantages of light and colour. Cézanne participated in two impressionist exhibitions - this external fact also shows the direction of his evolution. A whole generation of young artists of the early twentieth century, the idol of Cézanne, were working with an eye on him. The idea that the painting is not a window open to the world, but a two-dimensional plane with its own laws of visual language became central to avant-garde painting of the twentieth century. This allows us to call Cézanne the "father" of modern painting.
Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890)
Another representative of the post-impressionism that has shaped the avant-garde is Van Gogh, whose creativity was underestimated during his lifetime. In his paintings, on the one hand, everything is familiar and clear, but the bright colours that change reality become a premonition of avant-garde traditions and ideas. Van Gogh's first period of creativity is called Dutch (1881-1885). The heroes of his paintings were workers and peasants in the process of hard work. The artist lacked knowledge, but he worked hard, studying the works of great masters of the past and the art of contemporaries. In 1886 Van Gogh came to Paris. From that moment on, the second stage of his work began. Here he met Camille Pizarro, Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas and other post-impressionist artists. During his two years here, Van Gogh mastered the achievements of French painting of the last twenty years. This stage is characterized by a palette change: mood and colour overshadowing has disappeared, social problems have given way to still lifes, Montmartre views and portraits. The Arles period has become a new stage and time of the greatest flourishing of artistic skill. Self-portraits occupied a special place in the artist's work. Self-portraits with a bandaged ear and a tube made a particularly strong impression.
Edvard Munch (12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944)
Edvard Munch is one of the founders of Expressionism, one of the avant-garde movements that is complex and subjective enough to be perceived, since the primary objective is to reflect the impression of the world, painful fears and despair that hangs over society as in the painting "Scream". He is considered to be Van Gogh's follower and they often compare these two great and special masters whose destinies seem to be similar. Edward Munk was a complex and multifaceted personality. This man loved life and his work seems to have been partly personal psychotherapy to deal with mental fractures. It was also a philosophical study of the essence of people, a study of the depths of the human psyche and a search for ways to the sun - from the abyss. This is why there are things (mostly landscapes) in which the Expressionist sings life. These are, for example, works such as "Under the Apple tree", "The Sun", "The Dance of Life". However, even in these works, notes of anxiety are woven into an emotional melody.
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903)
Then we should mention Paul Gauguin, who is famous for his exotic, vivid paintings depicting the primordial beauty of this world. Emotionality is one of the most important features of post-impressionism in general, which is the beginning of the avant-garde movement. Art historians consider it one of the four greatest masters of post-Impressionism. Gauguin lived for some time on the island of Martinique, where he became fascinated by the sophisticated art of the East while studying Japanese graphics. Colours and lines in his works began to complement and enrich each other. Almost every subsequent work began to turn into a monumental canvas. Perfect harmony and sophistication became the hallmarks of the master's paintings. He is also famous for his exotic, vivid paintings depicting the primordial beauty of this world. Emotionality is one of the most important features of post-impressionism in general, which is the beginning of the avant-garde movement. Over time, it began to consider European civilization a disease. The artist dreamed of working "in the natural world", for which he went to Tahiti in 1891. The pictures, painted on the islands of Polynesia, were the beginning of the artist's "mature" phase. The works of the "Tahitian" period are characterized by static, expressed in colour contrast and deep emotionality.
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse ( 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954)
Matisse was also one of the founders of a new direction in the avant-garde - Fauvism. The artist creates a special decorative painting direction based on an amazing combination of external simplicity and refinement of execution, and his images also show a heightened emotionality, like a tapestry. Matisse's creative life began in the 90s of the nineteenth century. At this time, the work of the Impressionists was already being recognised by the public. The works of Impressionists such as Monet and Post-Impressionists (Cézanne, Gauguin) were the basis for twentieth-century artists to develop their artistic style. In his early paintings, Matisse used a dark palette that was used by old 19th century masters. Matisse believed that his palette was illuminated by the work of the Impressionists. However, after a while Matisse realises that the Impressionist method - that is, displaying a single moment, with no connection to the future and the past - makes no sense. The artist was greatly influenced by the work of the post-impressionists. Cezanne's understanding of composition and form was important to him; Van Gogh's texture, colours and expression were important. A distinctive feature of Matisse's work was the display of the same objects: carpets, red fish, fabrics and figurines. Despite the fact that they are written in different ways, they can always be recognized.
From 1907, Matisse paintings began to be called "Matisse" and became widely popular with collectors in Russia, the USA and France.
In 1906, at a demonstration of the works of the two above-mentioned artists, critics called them fauvists - savages, because of their brightness, burning emotionality, which is the essence of a new artistic movement. They were precisely the first to discover the avant-garde that corresponded to the revolutionary spirit of the time.
Text by Lisa Lukianova @llukianova_