When one hears the term Impressionism or Earth Art, one can already presume and expect what sort of depiction each movement would present without having any prior knowledge of them. Impressionism, which began in the 1870’s, often depicted scenes and the artists’ impression of nature and, modest yet vivacious quarters of Paris. Now almost exactly one hundred years later, a completely new form of art takes the place of the prior paintings of those subject matters, actually inside –called Earth Art.
In France, 1875, a new genre of painting began to emerge. These paintings demonstrated a fleeting outcome of colours. Impressionists aimed to capture that immediate moment of their subjects which provided a sense …show more content…
Claude Monet started off as a realist and Robert Smithson started as a conceptual artist. Monet wanted to create an impression of what he saw and defied the norms of realistic, photographic paintings. The thickness and low consistency of his oil paints allowed him to dramatically express his impression of his subject matter. His paintings mainly consist of landscapes, water lilies in particular. Smithson also took the initiative to start something completely new. Smithson’s pieces were meant to gradually perish through time and nature. It was a theme throughout all his works, whether it was his art or his writing –the theme of time. Smithson aimed and successfully displayed the delicateness of nature in such a commercial …show more content…
The haystack and the hill each have a trilateral shape and upward motion. Smithson evidently creates circular motion up the hill. Often through the use of circular motion and shapes, he demonstrates his theme of time, the chronological cycle. Through Monet’s piece, he also embraces the notion of time but more so of a moment in time. Although the brushstrokes of the oil paints are rather rough, the softness of the colours and contrasts emit the serenity of a winter morning. The appropriate choices of colours, the soft yellows, blues and greys, capture the essence of the bitter cold winter morning but also the warmth of a morning sun. The murky cast shadow of the haystack illustrates the progression and movement of the sunrise. This atmosphere in Monet’s painting clearly depicted and established whereas Smithson’s piece is transposable. Depending on the time and day at Emmen, Holland, the weather can alter the impression it imprints. Wet, gloomy weather versus a warm summer day, each produce a different foreground. Rain or snow, along with the black soil and white sand that Smithson utilized for this piece, can affect the colour and shade of the materials as well as the