The lights danced around the auditorium. A riot of colour. These twin traits are the very epitome of Impressionism. Names from my childhood returned to me, bringing a wave of nostalgia. Nostalgic due to my mum. We spent a lot of time during my childhood admiring the works of Renoir, Manet, and Monet,of course, amongst others.
The works I enjoyed the most as a child were those set on the streets of Paris. I have always harboured a secret fascination for the French capital. I’m not altogether certain why. It was never far away I guess. I could see France from my county’s coastline, growing up in the south east corner of England. Our nearest European neighbour separated by that thin watery strip the French called La Manche.
I dragged my mind away from childhood memories and back to the present. In a large auditorium in Victoria’s capital, so far away from La Belle France. Nevertheless, the Parisian street scenes were on offer within this digital art immersion. And it pulled, no, tugged on my heartstrings and drew me in. Evoking memories of visits as a teenager on school trips and later as an adult. That seductive nature of Paris as clear now, in Melbourne, as it had always been.
One of the impressionist painters famously stated something along the lines of art being emotion. They also said that if you need it explained to you, then you’ve missed something along the way. Of course they’re right. But each of us receive art in our own way. And mine – at least with Impressionism – is definitively tinged at the edges with nostalgia. The glimpses of wrought-iron balconies of those tall French buildings. Those wide open boulevards. Architecture that is so all-encompassing to me. I finally relaxed and allowed the Lume experience to take me away into its curated delights.
The Impressionists painted what they saw. They literally took delight in the everyday. In many ways, their paintings were like a snapshot in time. After all, it’s why they are called what they are. They have left us a lasting impression of what 19th century Paris was like. The bohemian, vibrant and cultural milieu of La Parisienne. Or the streetscape of the Flaneur, that idle mid-century figure casually ambling about town, observing casually about him.
When Charles Baudelaire wrote his work entitled “A Painter of Modern Life,” his words in many ways confirmed the raison d’être of the impressionist painter. I mean, think about it. The flaneur and the Impressionist are both acute observers of the everyday. This everyday life could include local streets and parks. People going about their business, eating, drinking, socialising. Baudelaire’s words were published in 1863. It really was his manifesto, his written impression of modernity, at least as he saw it. This urban life caught in a constant state of flux and renewal. Of swift change. This swift change was also echoed in the world of the impressionist painters. Thanks to the small tubes of paint, they were no longer confined to their studios. And it was this ability of an artist to travel, to paint more freely that meant they could capture this vision of modernity so succinctly.
Thus, “En Plein Air” (painting outside) was a founding notion of impressionist painting. It is also the epitome of this genre for anyone studying it from the future, looking back. Characterised by small visible brushstrokes, there was great emphasis on the relationship between light and shadow. The impressionists collectively rejected all that had gone on before. They sought to paint their world as they saw it with their own eyes. In all its colour and light and with it, its power. The power of the everyday.
It was Renoir who famously said that without colours in tubes, there would be no Impressionism. He was right. This mobilisation of technique allowed them to capture a far richer tapestry of life; one that was far more possible than in a studio. And for me, I enjoyed watching the paintings dance on the walls of the Lume. You can see why it was such a stark contrast to everything that had gone before it.
And so, if the impressionists captured this everyday with such adornment of colour, then perhaps they are artistic flaneurs. Observers of their contemporary life, but armed with a paintbrush as opposed to Baudelaire’s pen. Figures of influence, a literal posing of personalities who represented Baudelaire’s essence of modernity. I continued to sit in the Lume. I allowed this essence to wash over me. I began to peel away the subtle, layered differences in the artists. And as always, it was to Renoir I turned. His dark blues, the umbrellas, the facial expressions on his subjects. They pull me close every time and have done since I was a very small child. But here at the Lume, I realise that it’s me. I’m the spectator. The flaneur. I am traversing his world, via the digital art immersion, and for the first time feel as though I’ve entered his dominion. Is it the medium? The digital art experience or is it the nostalgia?
Whatever it is, I am immensely grateful.
Dying to jump into the light-filled streets of Paris too? Start your adventure here; https://www.thelumemelbourne.com/exhibition/monet
Do you adore Bethany Sinclair-Giardini’s work? Find more of her here; https://mountainashchapter.com.au/?author=12