Art

Art depicts life, they say, and, essentially serves as a visual metaphor of the society upon which an artwork draws inspiration from. And when a society experiences a most pivotal shift in ideology and lifestyle, we will immediately see this rendered in the works of that generations breed of artists. Such is the depiction shown in both Claude Monets Gare Saint Lazare (1877) and Gino Severinis Armored Train in Action (1915). Though these two artists come from completely different timelines and art movements, it is evident that the subject of these two iconic paintings characterizes the technological advancement that has dictated the direction of their societies.

Claude Monet is one of the most preeminent Impressionists during his time and is said to embody the essence of the the Impressionist Era. Born in November 14, 1840, Monet first received recognition when he and fellow-Impressionist Renoir painted a ferry in Paris that sparked the beginning of Impressionism. From 1871 to 78, Monet, along with a motley of other artists like his friends Manet and Caillebotte, relocated to the area that surrounded the Gare Saint Lazare, the second-largest train station in France during the Victorian Era, who found that this modern environment served as the perfect setting for experimenting on new pictorial forms. The trains, its billowing smoke, and the endless procession of commuters fascinated these artists as they witnessed the dawning of an age of transportation.

In 1877, Monet debuted a series of seven paintings illustrating the landscape inside the station, including one called Arrival of the Normandy Train, which we shall use in this papers discussion. As a follower of the Impressionist movement, Monet used quick, uneven brush strokes, creating a hazy atmosphere that captured the effect of light on the subject as a person would see it at a glimpse, which is the primary concern of the Impressionist artists.  The movement is also an excersise on the usage of vibrant colors swept lightly with smaller brush strokes, as seen in the painting. Usually, this subject was found to be unpalatable subjects, but Monets depiction, using blues and copper colors, portrayed a cheery image of the station that was deemed successful by art critics.

Following the same vibrant approach to technology, Severini, a Futurist , painted Armored Train in Action as a positive look into what other people of his generation would think as a technology-controlled, totalitarian future. In his younger years, he had gone to Paris to study Impressionism and had met some of the pioneers of the form like Signac. In the latter years, he was associated with the Futurist movement that was politically connected to the Fascist establishment of Italy. And like the other followers  of the Italian art movement of Futurism during his time, he took inspiration in the speed, technology and modernity that has come to be representative of this era. Unlike most of his contemporaries, who focused on the dynamics of the machine, Severini was more interested in depicting the humany body in motion.

Another aspect of Futurism is its negation past art movements, stating in their Manifesto as written by founder, Italian artist, Filippo Marinetti We stand on the last promontory of the centuries... Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible  In his painting, he depicted an armored train, a clear representation of technology and capitalism, capped by a bomb nozzle and filled with armed guards. The train hurtles through its surrundings at a top speed, the landscape whizzing by, as it seemingly rips the canvass in half. In this painting, he conveys the look of a speeding train by creating diagonals that seem to emanate from the landscape onto the body of the train and vise versa. This emphasis on the beauty of speed is a metaphor for what the Futurists believe is technologys destiny, to drive past traditional ideologies on art and, even, life and proceed to reach the Impossible.

Like Monet, Severini also puts the positivity of technology into light. As implied from their two paintings, the arrival of technology is a welcome sight that propels humanity forward. This choice of subject could be attributed to the fact that both men were witnesses to overwhelming social changes as a consequence of the advancement of technology. They put emphasis on the train because it symbolized the moving forward that society was doing. Monet showed people entering the train as a portrayal of its growing popularity and necessity.

But unlike Severini, Monets work is grounded on a sincere fascination of the impact this advancement had on the environment. Severinis work, on the other hand, is a retaliation against the norms and standards imposed by the traditions and ethics of the past. Monet deems to show the joviality that can presently be found inside these stations, whereas Severini shows the exciting future that can be attained with these technologies. Because Severini as a Futurist also believes in the glorification of war, he has depicted men with guns held high to shoot at anyone who dared come near.

What similarities these two artworks have in aspects such as subject and context end when you compare them according to the elements of style by which it was made. In essence, Impressionism and Futurism herald from two different eras, and therefore constitute of very contrdicting ideologies and techniques. Impressionism is an art movement propelled by the popularity of a particular form. As previously mentioned, its main concern was the process of accurately capturing reality through light and color. Impressionists were also the first to step out of the studio and paint reality as  it happens, focusing on mundane, everyday events. For his series of paintings, Monet actually received permission from the station officials to stay inside the terminal for him to be able to paint. Futurism, on the other hand, grounds itself on content and meaning, and from then on further explores it through form. Unlike Impressionism, which came about when artists began to apply this technique to their own work, Futurism is the only art movement declared by a group of persons as such, as evidenced in their Manifesto. It is founded on a particular ideology and even gets inspiration from certain concepts derived from Fascism. Andbecause it is a retaliation of the traditional, it actually negates the concepts that uphold other art forms including Impressionism. Futurism also works on the metaphorical and is focused on creating a message and delivering and making a statement, than showcasing a style or technique.

Their styles also quite differ from each other. Impressionism uses soft, short strokes blended haphazardly and using pure colors to further the play on light. Futurism, on the other hand, as inspired by the more extreme art form of Cubism, uses rigid lines to create seemingly geometric shapes. The soldier portrayed in the painting look like blunt triangles encapsulated inside a rectangular space. Around them, what seems to be depictions of trees along the path of the train, the leaves are geometrical in shape. Impressionism deems to capture a more realistic appearance of the world, albeit through blurry pictures. People are shown in realistic situations, whether they be riding trains, sitting by a lake, or conversing in a cafe, Impressionism never loses its sights of reality.

Over-all these two iconic paintings, which are representatives of their genre and generations,  come from two completely different arenas. In essence, their styles and techniques greatly differ from one another, and at some points, are incomparable. But despite this differences, the subject matter of the two paintings and the beliefs of the artists put them among a group of people that entertain the grand possibilities of an optimistic and progressive future.