27-01 Édouard Manet (Podcast produced by Google NotebookLM)
27-02 Claude Monet (Podcast produced by Google NotebookLM)
27-04 Edgar Degas
A chat created by Google NotebookLM based on my Edgar Degas notes
The Experimental Art of Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (1834-1917) remains one of the most complex and innovative figures of 19th-century art. Although he participated in the Impressionist exhibitions, he staunchly rejected the label, preferring to be identified as a “realist” or an “independent.” This briefing examines the central theme of Degas’s career: his relentless and experimental approach across painting, sculpture, and drawing. Throughout his work, he navigated the tension between the rigors of classical tradition and the fleeting realities of modern life, creating a new and confrontational form of realism.
1. The Painter: From History to Modernity
1.1. Early Ambitions in History Painting
Following his classical training, Degas initially focused on traditional history painting. One of his most intriguing works from this period is Young Spartans Exercising (c.1860), based on Plutarch’s account of ancient Spartan society. X-ray studies reveal that Degas obsessively reworked the figures over many years, a process that foreshadowed the lifelong, meticulous studio-based practice that would set him apart from the plein air Impressionists. Though he listed it for the 1880 Impressionist exhibition, he ultimately chose never to display the piece publicly, underscoring his unresolved relationship with the work. His last history painting was Scene of War in the Middle Ages (c.1863–1865). This ambiguous, surreal, and theatrical work, in which the terrified female nudes appeared more like studio models than tragic victims, provoked confusion among critics. After the painting was largely overlooked at the 1865 Salon, Degas made a definitive break from historical subjects.
1.2. A Turn to Contemporary Life
Degas’s pivot to depicting modern life was spurred by a financial crisis. After his father’s death, he was forced to sell his inherited family house and his entire personal art collection to cover his brother’s substantial debts, making it necessary for him to rely on the sale of his own work for income. This led to a highly productive period in which he documented Paris with an unflinching realism. This guiding principle connected his fascination with all aspects of the city’s gritty and glamorous realities. His primary subjects included:
• Ballerinas: He produced approximately 1,500 works focused on the ballet, capturing dancers in unguarded moments during rehearsals, backstage, and in performance.
• Laundresses: Degas was intrigued by the “repetitive, specialised gestures” of laundresses and ironers, and his works captured the unique physicality and rhythm of their exhausting labor.
• Urban Scenes: He created celebrated paintings of other contemporary subjects, from Parisian café life and racetracks to the commercial world depicted in his famous work, The Cotton Office.
2. The Sculptor: A Private Practice
2.1. Secretive Methods and Materials
Though famous for his paintings, Degas was also a prolific but secretive sculptor whose works were never meant for public viewing. He worked primarily in wax and clay, modeling figures of dancers and horses. His methods were highly unconventional; he used everyday objects like wine bottle corks and old floorboards to build the internal armatures for his figures, a technique discovered by X-ray analysis a century after his death.
2.2. ‘Little Dancer Aged Fourteen’: A Public Controversy
The only sculpture Degas ever exhibited was the Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, shown at the 1881 Impressionist exhibition. The work was the ultimate, shocking culmination of his principle of unflinching realism, moving from the two-dimensional plane into three-dimensional space. It ignited a public controversy due to its startling realism and mixed-media composition: a wax figure dressed in a real tulle skirt and a wig made of human hair. The critical backlash was violent and dehumanizing. Reflecting the grim social reality in which young dancers were known as “petits rats” (little rats), critics compared the figure to a “rat or a monkey,” calling her a “flower of precocious depravity” whose face was “marked by the hateful promise of every vice.”
2.3. Posthumous Legacy in Bronze
After Degas’s death in 1917, over 150 wax and clay sculptures were discovered in his studio, many in a state of deterioration. To preserve the compositions, his heirs authorized the fragile works to be cast in bronze. It is through these posthumous bronze editions that his sculptures are predominantly known today.
3. The Experimenter: Innovations in Media
3.1. Master of Pastel
In his lifetime, Degas’s pastel drawings were more highly regarded than his oil paintings; he sold over 6,000 pastels compared to only 60 oils. He was a pioneer in the medium, developing innovative techniques such as applying pastel in many layers to create luminous colors and textured effects that masterfully captured movement and atmosphere. As his eyesight failed later in life, he turned increasingly to pastels, which allowed him to work with broader strokes and large blocks of color, a style exemplified in late works like Blue Dancers.
3.2. Photography and Unconventional Perspectives
Degas took up photography in the 1880s, partly to compensate for his deteriorating eyesight, and he often painted from photographs he had taken. He preferred the “atmospheric challenges of artificial light” to daylight, which he considered “too easy.” The influence of photography is evident in many of his compositions, which feature off-kilter perspectives, dramatic cropping, and a sense of spontaneity that was radical for the time. The “‘blown-off-roof’ perspective” in his 1886 pastel The Tub is a clear example of this photographic influence.
27-05 Camille Pissarro
A Google NotebookLM podcast based on my notes on Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro: A Chronological Briefing
1. Early Life and Influences (1830-1862)
1.1. Caribbean Origins and Early Education
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro was born in 1830 on the island of St. Thomas. Raised in a Jewish family, he experienced profound social marginalization due to his parents’ unconventional marriage—his father had married his widowed aunt, a union forbidden by Jewish law. As a consequence, Pissarro and his siblings were barred from the local Jewish school and had to attend an all-black primary school. This early exposure to social exclusion likely shaped his lifelong empathy for marginalized and working-class people, a central theme in his art. At age 12, he was sent to boarding school in France, where he first developed a serious interest in art. He later returned to St. Thomas to work as a clerk in his family’s business for five years, dedicating all his free time to drawing.
1.2. The Path to Paris
At the age of 21, Pissarro was taught to paint by the Danish artist Fritz Melbye, who successfully convinced him to pursue art as a full-time profession. Pissarro left the family business and spent the next two years working as an artist in Venezuela. In 1855, he made the pivotal move to Paris, where he found work for an artist and photographer and enrolled in various art classes to further his training.
1.3. Formative Influences
Upon arriving in Paris, Pissarro was deeply impressed by the work of artists such as Courbet, Charles-François Daubigny, Jean-François Millet, and Corot. He received direct training from Corot, who inspired him to paint en plein air (outdoors) and appreciate nature directly. However, Pissarro distinguished himself by finishing his works outdoors at a single sitting, a practice that was heavily criticized as ‘vulgar’ at the time. Despite this, he gained early recognition with a work accepted into the official Paris Salon in 1859. That same year, while attending the Académie Suisse, he formed crucial friendships with a new generation of artists, including Claude Monet, Armand Guillaumin, and Paul Cézanne.
2. The Founding of Impressionism (1863-1874)
2.1. Breaking from the Salon
In 1863, the official Salon jury rejected almost all of the works submitted by Pissarro and his circle of friends, sparking a crisis in the Parisian art world. In response to the outcry, Emperor Napoleon III established the Salon des Refusés to display the rejected art. However, only Pissarro’s and Cézanne’s works were included, and they were met with a hostile response from both the Salon establishment and the public.
2.2. Exile and Loss
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, Pissarro, who held Danish citizenship, moved his family to Norwood, a suburb of London, to escape the conflict. While in England, he met the influential art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel and was deeply impressed by the works of English landscape painters John Constable and J.M.W. Turner. Upon returning to his home in France after the war, he made a devastating discovery: of the 1,500 paintings he had completed over the previous 20 years, only 40 remained. The rest had been destroyed by soldiers who had occupied his house. This loss was not just a personal tragedy; it reshaped art history. It is possible that those early paintings would have shown Pissarro as the inventor of the Impressionist style, but with their destruction, it is now Monet who is seen as the group’s guiding force.
2.3. The Société Anonyme
Frustrated with the Salon system, Pissarro proposed to his friends that they create their own independent exhibition. In 1873, a group of fifteen artists formed the Société Anonyme des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs et Graveurs. Pissarro played a crucial role in the group’s formation, creating its first charter. Their inaugural exhibition in 1874 was met with horrified reviews. Critics found the subject matter “vulgar,” the brushwork “sketchy” and incomplete, and the novel use of color jarring. The term “Impressionism” was coined as an insult by the critic Louis Leroy in a satirical review, but the artists later adopted the name for their movement.
2.4. “Father Pissarro”: A Pivotal Role
Pissarro’s fellow artists affectionately called him “father Pissarro” due to his age and his kindly, supportive nature. He was widely seen as the father figure of the movement, providing spiritual guidance and holding the often-fractious group together. His central contributions are notable for their breadth and impact.
• Mentorship: He was a dedicated mentor and supporter to younger painters, including Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin. Cézanne would later state that Pissarro was “a father for me.”
• Character: The artist Mary Cassatt described the ‘gentle’ Pissarro as a masterful teacher who “could have taught the stones to draw correctly.”
• Commitment: Pissarro’s dedication to the movement was unparalleled; he was the only artist to exhibit in all eightof the official Impressionist exhibitions held between 1874 and 1886.
3. Social Themes and Artistic Experimentation (1880s)
3.1. Depicting Peasant Life
Pissarro’s lifelong empathy for working people became a central theme in his artistic career. During the 1880s, he sharpened this focus, specifically painting peasants at work in an attempt to “educate the public.” His choice to depict the dignity of peasant life and ordinary existence, rather than classical or idealized subjects, was a radical departure from the academic art of the period.
3.2. Anarchist Convictions
His portraits of peasants were directly inspired by his political views. Pissarro subscribed to the radical anarchist publication Le Révolté and held strong convictions. His anarchist beliefs championed individual freedom, the rejection of authority, and opposition to the inequalities of capitalism. Importantly, his philosophy rejected violence like Pierre Proudhon but unlike Peter Kropotkin, who saw it as inevitable.
3.3. The Neo-Impressionist Phase
In 1885, Pissarro met the artists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac and became fascinated with their ‘scientific’ approach to color theory. For the next three to four years, he adopted their technique, known as pointillism or divisionism, which involved applying small, distinct dots of color to form an image. His work in this new style was shown in a separate section at the final Impressionist exhibition of 1886, where critics noted his impressive ability to reinvent himself. After four years of experimentation, however, Pissarro rejected pointillism as unsuited to his natural style. He returned to his earlier methods, but with a “firmer hand and more subtle colours,” becoming, as one critic noted, the “only artist who went from Impressionism to Post-Impressionism.”
4. Later Life and Enduring Legacy (1890s-1903)
4.1. Adapting to Adversity: The Urban Series
In his old age, Pissarro suffered from a recurring eye infection that limited his ability to work outdoors for extended periods. He adapted to this challenge by turning his focus to urban scenes, painting cityscapes from the windows of hotels in Paris, London, and Rouen. This late period produced some of his most famous works, including a series of 14 views of the Boulevard Montmartre and paintings capturing the bustling life of the Rue Saint-Honoré.
4.2. Death and Legacy
Camille Pissarro died in Paris on November 13, 1903, at the age of 73 from sepsis. He left behind a profound and multifaceted legacy as a core figure in the development of modern art.
• Pioneering Impressionist: He was the only artist to participate in all eight Impressionist exhibitions and was a pivotal, unifying force who was instrumental in holding the movement together.
• Influential Mentor: He taught and supported major artists who would go on to define the next generation, including Cézanne, Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh.
• Artistic Innovator: His work is celebrated for its technical innovation and for embodying democratic and humane ideals. He is recognized as a key figure who bridged the transition from Impressionism to Post-Impressionism.
• Posthumous Acclaim: Though he struggled financially for much of his life, his paintings now command millions. In 2014, one of his works sold for £19.9 million.
27-06 Auguste Renoir
A chat on Auguste Renoir produced by Google NotebookLM based on my notes
27-07 American Impressionism
My notes on American Impressionism
Beyond the Sunlit Garden: The Surprising Stories Behind American Impressionism
When we think of Impressionism, our minds often conjure images of serene, sun-dappled landscapes, elegant domestic scenes, and pleasant afternoons captured in soft, luminous color. The movement seems to represent a world of tranquility and beauty, a gentle escape from the harsh realities of modern life. It’s easy to look at these paintings and see only their calm, harmonious surfaces.
But beneath this veneer of placid beauty lies a dramatic and often turbulent history. The story of American Impressionism is not just one of pretty pictures; it is a tale filled with intense personal rivalries, painstaking artistic labor that bordered on obsession, and radical ideas that challenged the very definition of art. These are the stories of artists who fought critics in court, spent years on a single canvas to capture a few perfect minutes of twilight, and synthesized global influences to create something entirely new.
This article will pull back the curtain on the idyllic scenes to uncover some of the most surprising and impactful stories from this transformative era in American art.
It Wasn’t Just a Copy of the French Original
A common misconception is that American Impressionism was simply a delayed imitation of its French predecessor. But while its revolutionary techniques were born in France, the movement in America developed a distinct and independent character, adapting the new visual language to explore subjects and themes that were profoundly its own.
The American style was deeply rooted in the nation’s own artistic traditions, specifically “realism, a love of landscape, and middle-class domestic life.” Where French Impressionists were fascinated by the dizzying pace and “fleeting urban modernity” of Paris, American artists often sought to express a sense of “harmony and idealism.” This distinction is crucial. It allows us to appreciate American Impressionism not as a derivative echo, but as a unique artistic dialogue—a deliberate choice to forge a modern American identity on the canvas.
An Artist Sued a Critic for “Flinging a Pot of Paint in the Public’s Face”
The Victorian era was a battleground over the purpose of art, and no event captured this conflict more dramatically than the infamous trial between the artist James McNeill Whistler and the critic John Ruskin. Whistler, a self-confident American dandy known for his monocle and biting wit, had developed a radical painting technique. He created a thinned-down “sauce” of paint that he applied in thin, transparent layers, sometimes throwing the canvas to the floor to manage the running colors.
In 1877, he exhibited Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, an atmospheric depiction of a fireworks display. The influential art critic John Ruskin, a champion of traditional, highly detailed art, was appalled. He published a scathing review:
For Mr. Whistler’s own sake, no less than for the protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought not to have admitted works into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of wilful imposture. I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.
Outraged, Whistler sued Ruskin for libel. The ensuing trial became a public spectacle, pitting the old guard’s demand for realism against the modern artist’s claim to aesthetic freedom. While Whistler ultimately won the case, the court awarded him only a single farthing in damages, and the legal costs left him financially ruined. The trial, however, remains a landmark moment, a fierce debate over artistic value that echoes in today’s conversations about abstract art and the role of the critic.
A Seemingly Spontaneous Masterpiece Took Two Years to Paint—In 25-Minute Bursts
John Singer Sargent’s Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose appears to be the epitome of Impressionist spontaneity—a fleeting moment captured as two young girls light paper lanterns in a garden at dusk. The brushwork looks quick and effortless. The reality was the complete opposite. A nomadic, multilingual artist born to American parents in Florence after a family tragedy, Sargent’s process was a grueling exercise in patience.
To capture the perfect quality of twilight, he worked on the large canvas over the course of two years, but only painted for a very short period each evening, between 6:35 and 7:00, when the light was just right. He would often scrape all the paint off the canvas after a session if he was not satisfied. As the seasons changed and the flowers died, he replaced them with artificial ones. Sargent himself described it as a “fearfully difficult subject … Paints are not bright enough & then the effect only lasts ten minutes.”
Even after this painstaking effort, the painting proved controversial. Many English critics thought it was too “Frenchified,” and in a poll, readers of one paper voted it one of the “Pictures You Would Least Like to Live With.” The story of its creation challenges the myth of effortless inspiration, revealing the immense labor that can hide behind a seemingly spontaneous surface.
The Leading American Impressionist Was a Woman Who Found Inspiration in Japanese Design
In a field dominated by men, Mary Cassatt emerged as the “leading American in the Impressionist circle,” a testament to her immense talent and determination. Born into a prosperous Pennsylvania family, Cassatt faced significant barriers. In the 1860s, a serious artistic education was “denied to most women in America,” forcing her to move to Europe to pursue her calling. Her skill was undeniable, catching the attention of Edgar Degas, who invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists.
A pivotal moment in her career came after she attended a major exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints in Paris in 1890. This art form profoundly influenced her work, as seen in her 1893 masterpiece, The Child’s Bath. The painting incorporates key elements of Japanese design, including a “flattened perspective, high viewpoint and strong outlines.”
Crucially, while Cassatt adopted the daring compositional techniques of her mentor Degas, she applied them to her own ends. She used them “not to convey voyeuristic observation—as Degas sometimes did—but intimacy and empathy.” By synthesizing French modernism with the aesthetics of Japanese art, Cassatt created a style that was uniquely her own—intimate, modern, and deeply human.
The Movement Was Derailed by an “Explosion in a Shingle Factory”
By the early 20th century, Impressionism was the established face of modern art in America. But its dominance was about to be shaken by a single, explosive event: the 1913 Armory Show in New York City. The exhibition was designed to introduce the American public to the latest trends in European art, and it succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination.
The “most controversial work” was Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. A dizzying combination of Cubism and Futurism, the painting depicted a fragmented, machine-like figure in motion. It confused, angered, and mesmerized audiences who could not see a traditional “nude” in its abstract forms. One critic famously—and dismissively—described the painting as:
…an “explosion in a shingle factory”.
Other viewers were equally baffled, with some suggesting the work was a sign of the artist having a “brain malfunction.” Overnight, Duchamp’s painting became a symbol for a new, radical modernism that made Impressionism seem almost quaint by comparison. It sparked a furious, nationwide debate and signaled that Impressionism’s reign as the avant-garde was over.
The Ever-Changing Canvas
The seemingly tranquil world of American Impressionism was, in reality, a dynamic stage for artistic struggle, intellectual debate, and relentless innovation. Behind the serene landscapes are stories of artists who fought for their vision, labored for years to capture fleeting moments, and looked across cultures to forge a new visual language.
But the arrival of radical new works like Duchamp’s Nude was not a final curtain call. American Impressionism didn’t vanish; it evolved. It continued to influence American visual culture well into the 1930s, its principles of light and color adapting alongside the very movements that once seemed so shocking. The controversies that met these artists remind us that what is radical in one generation can become conventional in the next. Looking at the art that challenges us today, one has to wonder: which “explosion in a shingle factory” will become tomorrow’s masterpiece?