you have surely seen some of these paintings and you've surely heard some of the names associated with them vincent van gogh paul gogan paul suzanne all of these masterpieces represent the art movement that radically transformed the world and greatly influence the art that you love to this very day it's called post-impressionism in this episode from curious muse we will find out more about this famous pivotal period in art history if you'd like to see more art episodes be sure to give us a like and tell us which topics you want to learn about next art has always been about expression and creativity but there was a time centuries ago when it was very rigid and set in its ways the impressionist era revolved around finite realistic depictions of the world beautiful classic but maybe a bit boring that's what several up-and-coming artists thought vince van gogh paul gogan george serra paul suzanna these revolutionaries all carried one common belief they thought art was supposed to make people feel things it was supposed to portray the world around them as well as real tangible emotions through abstract techniques and forms they didn't know it but they were creating a fresh artistic movement that would shake up the world host impressionism so these artists didn't really see themselves as a unified group and they actually became known as the post-impressionists after their lives had already ended so the term post-impressionism was coined by the english art critic called roger frye who used it to name an exhibition monet and the post-impressionists in 1910 post-impressionists used daring vivid colors and abstract shapes to create astonishing visual effects this was the stark difference in the ways the world was viewed and portrayed before let's take a look at the four best known artists to ever do it first we have vincent van gogh a man so famous that his name is synonymous with modern art the dutch painter truly needs little to no introduction during his prolific career van gogh created many masterpieces using his signature expressive brushstrokes and brilliant colors by using these revolutionary techniques van gogh showed us parts of his inner world rich with emotions that were sometimes tortured by his inner demons when we observe his iconic self-portrait with a bandaged year we witness an artist and a fragile mental state we cannot hear van gogh and yet this work speaks for him and creates a universal and relatable pain that is downright palpable while so much art before post-impressionism was about beautiful vistas and landscapes this style of art invited observers to see the landscape of the soul van gogh knew just how radical his work was and how challenging too he even wrote to his brother theo and told him people say and i'm quite willing to believe it that it's difficult to know oneself but it's not easy to paint oneself either george serra preferred a more scientific approach to painting that's why he focused on theories related to optics and color so syrah's best known artwork is called a sunday afternoon on the island of legranjat the theme of the painting seems very impressionistic showing members of parisian society enjoying their day out on the river but the way in which this work was painted was different and new he mastered a radical technique that became known as pointillism based on that name you won't be surprised to hear that pointillism consists of an artist using tiny dots of pure colors like violet blue green yellow orange and red the colors weren't mixed on a palette as they typically are instead they were placed next to each other directly onto the canvas the idea was to achieve a kind of optical mixture when looking at the artwork next up is paul gogan gogong crafted his post-impressionist artworks using brilliant vivid colors and simple forms during his life gogan traveled extensively and went all around the world in hopes of locating inspiration he went to brittany then arl's where he shared a house with van gogh for two turbulent and troubled months now an accomplished world traveler gogan then visited martinique panama and lived in tahiti for the majority of the last 12 years of his life it was there that he made some of his best-known works but he led quite a problematic lifestyle he was known to engage in sexual relationships with tahitian teenage girls for many years gogan's work shows how many experts critics and historians have to view art as a product that is both independent of its creator but also heavily influenced by him too does art exist without the artist can you judge art without approving of the person behind it gogon remains a challenging but undeniably accomplished figure in the world of art history paul suzanna was all about excellence a perfectionist in so many ways this famous painter liked to slave over his work for long hours focusing on each and every detail meticulously and never settling for anything short of flawlessness his wife marie horton spent countless hours posing for susanna and was known to complain about having to sit still for so long in one position therefore painting still lives was ideal for the french artist because there wasn't anyone who could get bored with posing in his post-impressionist paintings of various fruits laid out on the table suzanna abandoned a traditional perspective and played with portraying objects from multiple sides he was fundamentally changing how artists portrayed the real world and because of that was also fundamentally changing how art fans saw the world post-impressionism changed the world major art movements like favism cubism and expressionism all would not have been possible without what was started by van gogh and others their explorations of abstract forms paved the way for scores of artists in the 20th century and beyond hey muses so what do you think of this game-changing style of art what is the most surprising thing you learned about the artist that created it do you have a favorite piece of post-impressionism and do you see how it influenced the art you loved today give us your thoughts about post impressionism in the comments below don't forget to like and subscribe to us on youtube and instagram for more thought-provoking content from curious muse remember that now you can listen to our episodes via your favorite podcast platform lastly if you enjoy our content and would like to support us you can now become our patreon join our community today you