On The Post-impressionist Painting Factors In To The LightHouse

As an important member of Bloomsbury Group, Virginia Woolf, the 20th century modernist novelist, is deeply influenced by the art of painting. This thesis tries to explore the influences of Post-impressionist painting factors on Woolf's masterpiece To the Lighthouse, probing how Woolf combines painting with literature to promote a kind of aesthetic effect in a novel, enriching the studies on Virginia Woolf.This thesis discusses the following aspects:In introduction, there is a brief introduction on Virginia Woolf's life and her works; then, emphasis is put on an overview studies on Woolf's works abroad and in China, pointing out that studies on Woolf from the angle of Post-impressionist painting are neglected to some extent.Chapter one is about the influence of Post-impressionist artistic view on Woolf's forming of literary view. Under the influences of painting, Woolf's literary view is embodied as (1) the pursuit of inner truth. Post-impressionist painters hold the idea that painting should be apart from objective description but should approach subjective expression. Woolf employs this idea in To the Lighthouse, emphasizing on the depicting of the inner spiritual activities of Mrs. Ramsay and Lily, exposing that only the inner spirit is true; (2) the stress on the non-personality of artistic creation. Non-personality in To the Lighthouse is manifested as non-personal narrator and non-personal character. By using the third-person indirect monologue, the non-personal narrator guides readers to approach the inner world of characters. The non-personal character transcends the description of specific individual, thus Mrs. Ramsay has become a symbol of human spiritual life.The second chapter focuses on Woolf's way to expressing the theme, which bears similarities with Gauguin's aesthetic theory of Synthetism. Synthetism on thematic level focuses on the symbolic form and emotional connotation to life. Therefore, the theme of To the Lighthouse is thus expressed through abstracting and symbolizing subjective vision to arrive a meaning of life.In the third chapter, Woolf's creative skills are discussed. Woolf's writing skills are influenced by the following four points in painting. (1) The use of multi-perspective narration in novel writing. Post-impressionist painter Cezanne breaks the traditional focus-perspective and uses multi-perspective. In To the Lighthouse, Woolf portrays the personalities of the Ramsays from many different perspectives, which is similar to Cezanne's skill in painting. (2) The appearance of distorted images. Distortion is a kind of artistic skill which aims to impose illusionary and imaginary quality on reality. This expressive distortion can disclose one's inner emotions when facing reality. (3) The principle of simplification. Simplification means to deduct the structural characteristics of an artistic work to the minimum in order to expose its essence. Woolf simplifies the characterization and the plot in To the Light House while seizes moments of impressions in life–"significant moments"to serve for the essence of harmony and unification among people. (4) The use of painting design to build a"significant form". Design is the process during which the unwanted information is deleted and the essential parts form a significant whole. In To the Light House, Woolf deliberately arranges the length of three sections, forming a striking contrast, shaping a harmonious whole, achieving a balanced artistic effect.In conclusion, the Post-impressionist artistic effects achieved in To the Light House are summarized. It is concluded that To the Lighthouse is a piece of art written on a canvas. The Post-impressionist painting factors employed by Woolf not only influence her forming of artistic view, her approach to expressing the theme but on her creative skills as well. By analyzing the Post-impressionist painting theories and principles, this thesis explores a kind of aesthetic effect achieved through Woolf's successful combination of literature and painting art, enriches the research on Woolf and brings forward a brand-new angle and approach to interpreting other modernist works.