A number of artists soon became dissatisfied with Impressionism. Artists such as Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) felt that Impressionism did not describe the solidity of forms in nature. Cézanne liked to paint still lifes because they allowed him to focus on the shape of fruit or other objects and their arrangement. The objects of his still life paintings look solid because he reduced them to simple geometric shapes. His technique of placing stains of paint and short strokes of rich color side by side shows that he learned a great deal from the Impressionists.
Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) and Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) responded to the realism of the Impressionists. Unlike the Impressionists, who said they viewed nature objectively, Van Gogh cared little about accuracy. He often distorted objects to express his thoughts more creatively. He used Impressionist principles to place contrasting colors side by side. Sometimes he squeezed paint from tubes directly onto the canvas, as in “Field of Yellow Corn.”
Gauguin didn’t care for the stained color of the Impressionists. He applied color smoothly in large flat areas, which he separated from each other with lines or dark edges. Colorful tropical peoples provided most of his subjects.
Cézanne’s method of creating space with simple geometric forms was developed by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Georges Braque (1882-1963) and others. Their style became known as Cubism. Cubists painted objects as if they could be seen from several angles at once or as if they were taken apart and reassembled on a flat canvas. Often the objects appeared unlike anything that exists in nature. Sometimes cubists would cut figures out of cloth, cardboard, wallpaper or other materials and glue them onto canvas to make a collage. Textures were also varied by adding sand or other substances to the paint.
Later trends were to place less emphasis on subject matter. Composition and pictorial technique began to receive more emphasis.