"Poetic" Study Of Corot's Painting

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot(1796-1875)was one of the most cultivated and unadorned painters of the 19 th century.Corot thought he had only one purpose in life: show the nature,which he loved most.Through his keen eye for nature,his devotion to nature,his rich emotions,his imagination and his special painting techniques,he gave full expression in his paintings,which are reflected in his entire artistic process.His “nostalgia”for the past and his love for nature make his paintings present deep “poetic and pictorial splendor”.So that his paintings are ultimately marked by poetic nature.Corot’s “ poetic ”painting is very unique in the 19 th century and even now.His“poetic”painting is embodied in three aspects.First,Corot interpreted a kind of the emotion of“nostalgia and memory”combined with “Classical mythological figures and antiquities”.Second,Corot constructed a “utopian” landscape through the different gestures of “trees” and the different forms of “water” in his “souvenir ”series.Third,Corot constructed a dream-like realm through the subtle presentation of hazy “green-gray” and “silver-gray”.In addition,through “gentle description ”and “simple modeling” to present a changeable and vivid real nature.The formation of Corot’s “poetic”painting has four sources.First of all,at the early stages of his painting career,it was away from the conflict,gradually formed “a simple heart that has not been assimilated by the secular world”,this “simple heart” has a profound influence on the formation of Corot’s outlook on“life ”and “art”.Secondly,Corot used the themes,subjects and“ways of thinking” of creation of poetries to make the picture into the world of the “poetry”.Thirdly,the model brought by the “usual themes and subjects ” of the theater enable Corot to combine the “scenes ”in theaters with the real nature and re-create the“scenes” that seem to be the“real and the unreal” works.Besides,with the flourishing of romanticism in the 19 th century,landscape painting was pushed to an unprecedented height by romanticist,“ the idea of giving emotion to art ”,“ lyrical painting technique”and the prosperity of literature had an important influence on Corot.Finally,with the development of the industrial revolution,photography influenced the way painters painted,inspired by photographers,Corot used “cliché-verre”created several hazy printmaking in a poetic way and based on it re-creation oil paintings;At the same time,Corot learned a lot from the changes in the "tone" presented by different exposures in photographs,thus his works after the 1860 s show great hazy characteristics in the expression of tone and outline modelling.The essence of Corot’s “poetic” painting is embodied in the wonderful fusion of “classicism ”“romanticism” and “realism”.Corot’s “classicism” reflecte in two ways:First,he inherited and followed the order and harmony of classical tradition.Then,inherited and developed the "pastoral" poetic depiction tradition of Poussin and Lorraine.Corot’s ideas are similar to those of romantic“nostalgia and lyric”and his unique “simple romance” is the characteristic of his romanticism.Corot’s “realism” elements is embodied in his “poetic” realistic painting style,The “realism” of his “poetic” painting differs from that of other realists.It is shows in the “purpose and method ”.The above three concepts often appear in many of Corot’s works at the same time,showing a wonderful fusion state.This wonderful state of fusion is exactly the essence of the "poetic" characteristics of his works.