The French Impressionists (1860-1900) | Page 6

the disciplinary
teaching of the official school.
[Illustration: DEGAS
THE DANCER AT THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S]

II
THE THEORY OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS--THE DIVISION OF
TONES, COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS, THE STUDY OF
ATMOSPHERE--THE IDEAS OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS ON
SUBJECT-PICTURES, ON THE BEAUTY OF CHARACTER, ON
MODERNITY, AND ON STYLE
It should be stated from the outset that there is nothing dogmatic about
this explanation of the Impressionist theories, and that it is not the
result of a preconceived plan. In art a system is not improvised. A
theory is slowly evolved, nearly always unknown to the author, from
the discoveries of his sincere instinct, and this theory can only be
formulated after years by criticism facing the works. Monet and Manet
have worked for a long time without ever thinking that theories would
be built upon their paintings. Yet a certain number of considerations
will strike the close observer, and I will put these considerations before
the reader, after reminding him that spontaneity and feeling are the
essentials of all art.
[Illustration: DEGAS
CARRIAGES AT THE RACES]
The Impressionist ideas may be summed up in the following manner:--
In nature no colour exists by itself. The colouring of the objects is a
pure illusion: the only creative source of colour is the sunlight which

envelopes all things, and reveals them, according to the hours, with
infinite modifications. The mystery of matter escapes us; we do not
know the exact moment when reality separates itself from unreality. All
we know is, that our vision has formed the habit of discerning in the
universe two notions: form and colour; but these two notions are
inseparable. Only artificially can we distinguish between outline and
colour: in nature the distinction does not exist. Light reveals the forms,
and, playing upon the different states of matter, the substance of leaves,
the grain of stones, the fluidity of air in deep layers, gives them
dissimilar colouring. If the light disappears, forms and colours vanish
together. We only see colours; everything has a colour, and it is by the
perception of the different colour surfaces striking our eyes, that we
conceive the forms, i.e. the outlines of these colours.
The idea of distance, of perspective, of volume is given us by darker or
lighter colours: this idea is what is called in painting the sense of values.
A value is the degree of dark or light intensity, which permits our eyes
to comprehend that one object is further or nearer than another. And as
painting is not and cannot be the imitation of nature, but merely her
artificial interpretation, since it only has at its disposal two out of three
dimensions, the values are the only means that remain for expressing
depth on a flat surface.
Colour is therefore the procreatrix of design. Or, colour being simply
the irradiation of light, it follows that all colour is composed of the
same elements as sunlight, namely the seven tones of the spectrum. It is
known, that these seven tones appear different owing to the unequal
speed of the waves of light. The tones of nature appear to us therefore
different, like those of the spectrum, and for the same reason. The
colours vary with the intensity of light. There is no colour peculiar to
any object, but only more or less rapid vibration of light upon its
surface. The speed depends, as is demonstrated by optics, on the degree
of the inclination of the rays which, according to their vertical or
oblique direction, give different light and colour.
The colours of the spectrum are thus recomposed in everything we see.
It is their relative proportion which makes new tones out of the seven

spectral tones. This leads immediately to some practical conclusions,
the first of which is, that what has formerly been called local colour is
an error: a leaf is not green, a tree-trunk is not brown, and, according to
the time of day, i.e. according to the greater or smaller inclination of
the rays (scientifically called the angle of incidence), the green of the
leaf and the brown of the tree are modified. What has to be studied
therefore in these objects, if one wishes to recall their colour to the
beholder of a picture, is the composition of the atmosphere which
separates them from the eye. This atmosphere is the real subject of the
picture, and whatever is represented upon it only exists through its
medium.
[Illustration: DEGAS
THE GREEK DANCE--PASTEL.]
A second consequence of this analysis of light is, that shadow is not
absence of light, but light of a different quality and of different value.
Shadow is not a part of the landscape, where light ceases, but where it
is subordinated to a light which appears to us more intense. In the
shadow the rays of the spectrum