On The Role Of Light And Color In Impressionist Paintings

Light and color play an important role in the development and reform of western painting, as a special kind of painting language, they have experienced numerous development processes accompanied by western painting until today. During the different period, the role of light and color in the painting is different, the degree taken seriously by the painter is also not the same.This paper first analyzes the role of light and color in western painting,and then from the medieval religious art,light and color have symbolic meanings but not their own features,they just as a spiritual symbol appears in the picture,they are sacred language. Up to the Renaissance,they broke through the shackles of medieval religious thoughts, art was more close to nature, light and color were no longer be used as a symbolic means, but as an insignificant artistic language appears in the picture; In 17 th and 18 th century’s paintings, light was paid more and more attention to camp the picture effect and foil the atmosphere of the picture. Neoclassical color was established on the basis of the sketch, the light was still used to foil picture in the neo-classical painting; The romanticism flourished in the first half of the19 th century overthrew the program of classical painting, they walked out of the studio to the nature and paid attention to the change of light and color, they expressed their inner feelings with full color.Then, the paper analyzes the role of light and color played in the Impressionism and Neo Impressionism painting language. In the 19 th century, with the continuous development of natural science, the Impressionist combined practice with color and light theory, they walked out of the studio and pursued of the instant impression of light and color, the shift of the concept of sketch changed the dead art、the use of the environment color made the paintings of impressionist more rich and colorful,the shadow was no longer a dark brown and black、they ignored the contour shape and form of object,and use flexible strokes and different shapes of color to paint the picture, making the paintings of Impressionism vivid and full of vitality and bringing us a new visual feast. The paper takes Manet, Monet, Degas, and Renoir for example discusses the new form of light and color in the impressionist’s painting language; the Neo Impressionism painting followed the color techniques of Impressionism, meanwhile, they were guided by the scientific theory of color to paint and used the small color dots directly point to the canvas, forming the visual effect of mixed color. The paper also takes Seurat for example discusses the rational expression of light and color of Neo Impressionism.Last, the paper analyzes the subjective performance of light and color of the Post-impressionism, with the continuous development of social progress, light and color become the main elements of painters to express their subjective feelings, the Post Impressionism paintings are also influenced by the oriental art, the paintings not only express the subjective emotions of painters but also make the works more expressive, decorative and symbolic. In the end of the paper, the author takes Cezanne, van gogh and gauguin for example discusses the personalized expression of Post Impressionism painters to the light and color.