Post-Impressionism

Distinguishing itself from its Impressionist forbearer by emphasising the subjective expression of emotion and the symbolic content of an artwork alongside its formal design elements, Post-Impressionist artist’s experimentations extended the visual vocabulary of modern painting.

Emerging primarily in France but resonating internationally, the movement was not a coherent school but a loose constellation of artists united by their desire to extend the expressive and structural possibilities of painting. While the Impressionists had sought to capture transient effects of light and atmosphere through direct observation, the Post-Impressionists turned inward, exploring the symbolic and subjective capacities of colour and composition. Their work signaled a decisive shift from naturalistic representation toward the modernist preoccupation with the painting as an independent object of meaning.

At its core, Post-Impressionism represents an intellectualisation of the visual experience led by the conviction that art should transcend the mere depiction of an external world and, instead, communicate the artist’s deeper, subjective truth. This philosophical turn provided a theoretical and aesthetic foundation for later twentieth century artistic developments such as Fauvism, Abstraction, Expressionism and Cubism.

As the movement’s influence rapidly spread across Europe and beyond, Post-Impressionism became less a style than a sensibility centred on a belief that painting could be not merely the mirror of reality, but a language of emotion and intellect, capable of articulating what is seen, felt and believed by a specific artist at a specific time.

The only woman ever invited to join or exhibit with the Les XX group, Anna Boch (1848 - 1936) exemplifies the movement’s synthesis of Impressionist luminosity and emerging modern sensibility. Her dual identity of artist and patron afforded her a vantage point from which to engage intimately with the leading avant-garde painters of her time, while simultaneously shaping the reception and preservation of their work through her discerning acquisitions.

Australian artist Hilda Rix Nicholas (1884 - 1961) employed the movement’s emphasis on subjectivity to represent a vivid articulation of Australian national identity and the resilience of Australian women. As one of the first Australians to adopt Post-Impressionist sensibilities, her rural landscapes and portraits of soldiers were some of the most significant contributions to Australian art in the inter-war years.

Suzanne Valadon (1865 - 1938) was one of the most striking Post-Impressionist painters of her generation, whose unidealised depictions of women and domestic life challenged both academic convention and male-dominated representations of the female form, exemplifying the Post-Impressionist commitment to individual vision and emotional authenticity.