In the 1860s a few young painters were
routinely rejected by the Académie des Beaux Arts of Paris for not portraying
historical and religious themes in their paintings. This forced the then
Emperor Napolean III who was already out on war against the Academy to organize
the Salon of the Refused and this gave birth to a new art movement, that of
painting landscapes and still life, just in the way they appear in reality, the
Impressionism. Quoting Manet, these painters actually did what they saw. This
blog post is about a town in Southern France, so how does this movement fit
there. When the artists of Paris were revolutionizing art, the brother of a
Dutch art merchant arrived in the city in 1886. A self-taught painter,
initially disapproved art as being merchandise, came to be inspired by the
impressionists of Paris. Here amidst Monet, Renoir, Manet, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec,
Degas and others, he found his own art form and thus from the young rebel
painter, Vincent Van Gogh, another complementary art form, the
post-impressionism was born. But he did not stay for long in the capital; his
quest for tranquil and unique experiences led him south, to the town close to
Marseilles, Arles.
