Art the Late 19th Century

Art The late 19th century was a time of revolutionary social, technological, and political changes. Those changes had an immediate effect on the arts in Europe. The Impressionism movement enabled freer creative expression. Subject matter became at once more personal and more universal as artists shifted their attention away from the themes that held sway for centuries. As old aristocracies and monarchies crumbled, so too did the connection between art and elitism. A bolder use of color and brushstroke on the canvas corresponded with the thematic shift in post-Impressionistic art.

The paintings of both Toulouse Lautrec and Paul Gaugin encapsulate the political, social, and technological transformations taking place just before the turn of the century. Imperialism and colonialism had a direct impact on the art of Paul Gaugin. Gaugin worked with the merchant navy making "several long sea voyages" (Roskill 1997). Gaugin first visited Tahiti in 1891, and after that returned several times before finally moving there. Tahiti inspired the bulk of work for which Gaugin is most renowned.

Gaugin incorporated Tahitian motifs and artistic styles in his paintings, which display a lively color palette. The "primitive" approach to painting extant in Tahiti was "characterized by flat forms and the violent colors belonging to an untamed nature," (Pioch 2002). Gaugin's own work began to reflect the Tahitian aesthetic, as the artist combined a lively and tropical range of hues with a relatively flat representational style.

Individual pieces such as Femmes de Tahiti [Sur la plage] (Tahitian Women [on the Beach]), Spirit of the Dead Watching, Arearea (Joyousness), and Nave, Nave Moe (Miraculous Source) exemplify Gaugin's Tahitian period. Each of these paintings displays Gaugin's appreciation for the primitive, the exotic, and the erotic. In Arearea and Nave, Nave Moe, Gaugin recreates scenes set amid the lush tropics. The environment depicted in these paintings differs sharply from Gaugin's native France.

Moreover, the depiction of Tahitian women shows how Europeans encountered and perceived the dark-skinned "other." Colonialism and imperialism brought to light the unbalanced dynamic between Europe and the pre-industrialized world. Gaugin at once idealizes and patronizes the Tahitian subjects in his artwork. In Nave, Nave Moe, the two women in the foreground do not look at the viewer. They appear sullen, one resting her head in her hand and the other gazing to the side with disenchantment.

Gaugin paints the two women in identical clothing, suggesting that to the European eye, all "primitive" people are alike. The women in Gaugin's paintings rarely appear happy. As in Nave, Nave Moe, the two women in Femmes de Tahiti [Sur la plage] appear sad. The woman on the right looks away as if she feels embarrassed or annoyed by the painter's undue attention and interest. She listlessly holds a few flower strands, and her shoulders are hunched.

The late nineteenth century was a time of tremendous upheaval for sexual and gender norms in Europe. Encounters with pre-industrialized nations via colonization encouraged Europeans like Gaugin to explore a more liberal sexuality. Indeed, "Tahiti was more sexually liberated than turn-of-the-century Paris and there is no doubt that Gauguin revelled in the opportunities it offered," (Hill 2001). Gaugin' depicts Tahitian women as being sexually confident, such as in Spirit of the Dead Watching, and also in Arearea.

In the latter painting, one of the two women in the center gazes directly at the viewer. Her eyebrows are slightly raised and her hand in her lap appear welcoming and almost provocative. The woman seated behind her plays a flute and is topless. The dog in the foreground symbolizes animal nature and frank sexuality. In Spirit of the Dead Watching, Gaugin also depicts a Tahitian woman with open sexuality.

The woman in Spirit of the Dead Watching lays prostrate on a bed, exposing her naked buttocks while gazing directly at the viewer. Her position is submissive, in spite of the alluring look in the woman's eyes. The spirit of the dead represents traditional Tahitian religious beliefs, which would have been in direct conflict with the Christianity imposed upon the island nation by the French. Sexuality was also a favorite theme of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The artist was well-known for his escapades in Montmartre, Paris's cabaret district.

Toulouse-Lautrec's work depicts a seedy underbelly of Parisian life rather than idealizing the bourgeoisie. Like Gaugin's work, the paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec embody the social changes taking place in European society during the late nineteenth century. In Stocking, Toulouse-Lautrec depicts two dancers, one of which is just getting dressed. The one on the left wears so much makeup as to appear clown-like, and she is fully dressed. Both women are preparing for their stage acts. The woman on the right pulls up a stocking but otherwise she is totally naked.

Toulouse-Lautrec paints the two women candidly, as if they do not know they are being watched. His approach mimics that of photography, which allowed for candid pictures of people that would otherwise need to sit still and model for an artist. Alone is another painting in which Toulouse-Lautrec portrays cabaret dancers as sexually uninhibited and independent women. The prone woman's eyes are closed and the painting appears hasty, as if Toulouse-Lautrec quickly stole a snapshot of a dancer taking a nap.

His sketch-like brushstrokes almost transform the imagery into an abstraction, as if in a quick glance. The viewer is placed in the unique position of being a voyeur watching a woman sleep. Like Gaugin, Toulouse-Lautrec depicts female bodies and female sexuality from a male perspective. However, their paintings also show that social and gender norms were shifting towards female political and social liberation. Just a few decades after Gaugin and Toulouse-Lautrec died, women throughout Europe were able to.