With 1 in 20 males having impaired colour vision, and over half the adult population needing spectacles, you’d expect painters to be similar, and there are claims of those who were colour-blind or had other visual problems. Are they reflected in their paintings?
Pissarro
The close group of Neo-Impressionists were also anarchists. This traces their politics in paintings by Paul Signac and Camille Pissarro, including a portrait of Félix Fénéon, later suspected of bombing a restaurant.
From his fine realism of 1858, through sinuous trees above Bordighera, to his first series of poplars near his home in Giverny and on the River Epte.
Taught by Corot, he became an almost compulsive painter of trees and a central figure among the French Impressionists. He later became Pointillist, peaking in 1891, but ceased painting outdoors in his final years.
Early works followed Constable or his teacher Michallon, and excelled in anatomy. His trees became more gestural, with daubs and marks as he led the start of Impressionism.
Difficult to cultivate, as it can’t self-pollinate and doesn’t breed ‘true’, it has still become a major food crop around the world. From blossom to market in paintings.
Before about 1870, no one questioned that cast shadows should appear grey, without any change in colour. The Impressionists disagreed.
Walnuts providing food, fine wood, and a drying oil used as an alternative to linseed; almonds that may have a high cyanide content, but are still eaten. Paintings from Piero to Bonnard.
How to distinguish sweet from horse chestnuts in paintings from Sisley, Pissarro, CĂ©zanne, Carl Larsson, Vincent van Gogh, Egon Schiele and others. And all about conkers.
You have a brief window of 30-60 minutes to capture the lighting, shade and shadows, when you’re lucky. How practice and skill overcame one of the great challenges.
