A summary of the development of visible brushstrokes and marks in European painting, from 1400, with links to articles in this series.
brushstrokes
By the 20th century artists were starting to understand why painterly images rich in brushstrokes were often more effective than those in fine detail.
His style evolved from a mildly painterly realism in 1890, steadily loosened in the early 1900s, then broke up into brushstrokes and marks by the early 1920s. But continued to tell stories effectively.
Initially his Pointillist views used fine dots and contrasting colours. Over time he explored limited palettes, increasing size of marks, and smooth transitions.
From early explorations in a chestnut tree and a still life in 1887, in the summer of 1889 his brushstrokes organised into distinctive swirls and whorls. Those are examined in detail.
Initially he applied coarser dots on areas of more even colour, used simultaneous colour contrast, then his blobs grew to become patches of paint resembling the tesserae of mosaics.
As Paul Cézanne reached the end of his Impressionist phase, he started painting foliage using patterned brushstrokes, his ‘constructive stroke’.
A style set by Monet and Renoir in their 1869 paintings of La Grenouillère, it became more deliberate and even adopted by those considered to paint in academic style.
Paintings of pre-Impressionist landscapes by Johan Jongkind, Camille Corot, Charles Daubigny, Eugène Boudin, and the young Claude Monet.
Initially, he followed tradition, painting studies sketchily and finished work tight and with academic finish. He progressively presented more painterly works, becoming radical in his later years.
