Hello all, today it’s Björn hosting MTB again. I thought we would continue our journey through the world of art and try to paint with words like an art movement. Today I would like us to look deeper into impressionism. Today impressionist art is one of the most loved ones. We have learned to love the light brushstrokes, the technique of blurring the edges. Maybe hinting rather than being exact.
Impressionism has always been seen as a French movement with artists like Monet, Renoir and Cezanne. At first the audience were hesitant and their ideas were thought to be too radical. Today I think that impressionism has become the essence of good art, and the works of impressionism has found their way into our homes. There is something so comforting in the lightness of colors and shapes.

Impression: soleil levant
Claude Monet

So let us study their techniques:

  • They use short, thick strokes of paint quickly to capture the essence of the subject, rather than its details.
  • Colors are applied side-by-side with as little mixing as possible in opaque fields, producing contrasts of vivid colors.
  • Wet paint is painted on top of wet paint blurring the edges.
  • Grays and dark tones are produced by mixing complementary colours. They avoided the use of black paint. Impressionists always started from a light background.
  • Wet paint is placed into wet paint without waiting for successive applications to dry, producing softer edges and intermingling of colour.
  • The play of natural light is emphasized, with special attention to reflection. The preferred light is that of dawn or twilight.
  • They preferred painting in the open air. Bring in the nature.

This resulted in a freshness that had not been seen previously, and despite the modernism and abstract paintings that have followed since I do not think that impressionism has ceased to be popular.

So now it’s your challenge to capture these ideas in poetry. What would a short thick stroke correspond to in words, or a bright color?

I would try to use poems written in separate pieces that capture moments or images. Maybe you can try to use the technique of list poetry. I would like you to use images from nature, maybe clear nocturnal skies. Add some people, maybe food of wine. Now from these small images create a scene. Avoid darkness, and include some laughter. Color them, not only by the name of colors, but rather use objects with a clear hue.