1 00:00:26,620 --> 00:00:33,160 The late 19th century was a period of incredible scientific and technological progress. 2 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:41,140 The scientific historian Vaclav Smil describes the period between 1867 and 1914, sometimes 3 00:00:41,140 --> 00:00:47,080 called the Second Industrial Revolution, as one of the greatest watersheds in human history. 4 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:51,380 Everyday life was transformed in profound and incredible ways. 5 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:56,780 The First Industrial Revolution had already seen the rise of incredible new technologies 6 00:00:56,780 --> 00:01:03,120 like railroads, cement, elevators, antiseptics, sewing machines, gas lighting, and the telegraph. 7 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:10,020 Now the second would add electricity, telephones, automobiles, subways, typewriters, gramophones, 8 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,660 aluminum, tractors, mass production, and even flight. 9 00:01:14,500 --> 00:01:21,420 Meanwhile, new theories about evolution, heredity, radioactivity, germs, thermodynamics, and atomic 10 00:01:21,420 --> 00:01:25,500 theory were transforming how we understood the world around us. 11 00:01:25,980 --> 00:01:31,680 The post-impressionist movement came right at the crux of this transformation, and its artists 12 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,600 would have seen many incredible changes take place within their own lifetime. 13 00:01:36,260 --> 00:01:40,060 We really can't understand their work without that context. 14 00:01:40,060 --> 00:01:46,000 Whether their art reflected and embraced that change, or rejected it and yearned for a simpler 15 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:46,560 past. 16 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:52,140 My first thought when composing this lecture was to focus on a few things that directly 17 00:01:52,140 --> 00:01:57,860 affected painters in their practice—technologies like new pigments, paint tubes, pre-stretched 18 00:01:57,860 --> 00:02:00,280 canvases, lithography, and photography. 19 00:02:00,780 --> 00:02:06,140 But post-impressionism was not just the result of a few brighter pigments and synthetic paints. 20 00:02:06,140 --> 00:02:13,240 It was only possible with the totality of scientific advancements and economic transformation, which 21 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:19,020 includes everything from railway and urbanization to plywood, batteries, the steam printing press, 22 00:02:19,140 --> 00:02:20,380 and even the coffee pot. 23 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:26,820 We could spend a whole course discussing the huge changes of the late 19th century, but 24 00:02:26,820 --> 00:02:31,340 in this lecture, I want to try and give you a brief sense of how technological change was 25 00:02:31,340 --> 00:02:35,320 transforming the life of the average artist and how that flowed into their work. 26 00:02:35,900 --> 00:02:40,140 The dramatic changes of this era would have been all around the post-impressionists of 27 00:02:40,140 --> 00:02:45,280 Paris, which at the beginning of the 19th century was a very different place than it was at the 28 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:46,200 end of the century. 29 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:52,280 The first industrial revolution had brought factories, railroads, and modern finance to Paris. 30 00:02:53,220 --> 00:02:58,580 Entirely new industries sprung up like chemical refineries and mass manufacturing plants, which 31 00:02:58,580 --> 00:03:04,360 created a steady stream of entirely new materials and products, and an unquenchable thirst for human 32 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:04,660 labor. 33 00:03:05,140 --> 00:03:10,600 The new railroads that crisscrossed France brought a constant and steady stream of people into the city. 34 00:03:10,740 --> 00:03:14,560 A massive influx as Paris ballooned to over a million people. 35 00:03:15,620 --> 00:03:19,480 With industry came new jobs, new wealth, and new products. 36 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:21,720 But it also created new problems. 37 00:03:22,020 --> 00:03:27,960 Rivers, like the Seine, were contaminated with garbage, pollution, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals. 38 00:03:28,580 --> 00:03:32,980 Even worse, sewage was often thrown into the street or collected in underground 39 00:03:32,980 --> 00:03:35,240 cesspools that were prone to overflow. 40 00:03:35,860 --> 00:03:40,200 And of course, these same rivers were the source of the city's drinking water. 41 00:03:41,460 --> 00:03:48,040 And soon we see widespread outbreaks of cholera, typhus, typhoid, syphilis, and many more. 42 00:03:48,300 --> 00:03:54,540 The cholera epidemic of the 1880s alone wiped out hundreds of thousands of the working poor across Europe. 43 00:03:54,540 --> 00:04:00,160 Poisoning was common, as heavy metals like lead and arsenic seeped into the waterways. 44 00:04:00,580 --> 00:04:06,520 New medical conditions emerged like a fossy jaw, which sounds incredibly horrific and traumatic. 45 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:14,460 This is what happened when workers exposed to phosphorus in matchstick factories would experience necrosis of the jaw. 46 00:04:14,460 --> 00:04:19,540 The phosphorus literally kills the muscle and tissues, and the jaw rots and dies. 47 00:04:20,700 --> 00:04:25,740 Thankfully, the rapid progress of technology created medical advancements in germ theory, 48 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,100 hypodermic needles, and anesthetic surgery. 49 00:04:29,500 --> 00:04:31,040 Hygiene was going mainstream. 50 00:04:31,340 --> 00:04:33,000 Flush toilets became popular. 51 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:39,340 And as knowledge of better health and hygiene practices increase, so does pollution, overcrowding, 52 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:41,960 increased spreading of infectious diseases. 53 00:04:42,980 --> 00:04:46,220 Pasteurization, vaccination, and antiseptics emerged, 54 00:04:46,420 --> 00:04:51,080 and saved untold lives from diseases that had been deadly just a generation before. 55 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:56,680 The Industrial Revolutions also created crowded tenements and living situations. 56 00:04:57,020 --> 00:05:02,740 Most people had no access to the new prosperity, and urban poverty and crime was the result. 57 00:05:02,740 --> 00:05:08,480 The dark and dangerous streets immortalized in novels were a reality and commonplace. 58 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:13,040 As cities lacked basic infrastructures like street lights, trash collection, 59 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,220 the city streets were not a pleasant place to hang out. 60 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,720 To accommodate the growing population and deal with these new issues, 61 00:05:21,180 --> 00:05:26,040 Baron Haussmann was appointed to carry out a massive program of urban renewal. 62 00:05:26,740 --> 00:05:32,620 The Haussmann's renovation of Paris completely transformed the city with wide avenues. 63 00:05:32,740 --> 00:05:37,640 New parks and plazas, expanded waterways, and a modern sewage system. 64 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,660 Much of the crowded medieval inner city was demolished and replaced with modern, 65 00:05:42,820 --> 00:05:47,280 mid-rise apartment blocks, which remain an iconic symbol of Paris today, 66 00:05:47,500 --> 00:05:50,760 and are captured in the backgrounds of many post-impressionist works. 67 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:56,260 Grand new monuments to the city and its industrial transformation were constructed. 68 00:05:56,260 --> 00:06:01,020 The cities, roadways, and bridges were rebuilt around expanded train stations, 69 00:06:01,220 --> 00:06:05,640 like the Guerre du Nord and the Guerre du Leste, the new gates of a modern city. 70 00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:11,820 Many of the city's most iconic sites today, like the Palais Garnier, were constructed in this period, 71 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:14,280 and the Louvre Museum was dramatically expanded. 72 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,900 And, of course, the Eiffel Tower was erected in 1889, 73 00:06:17,900 --> 00:06:22,520 a towering wonder of iron that became a symbol of the new Paris. 74 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:28,540 So the wealth brought by industrialization and the reconstruction of the city had created a 75 00:06:28,540 --> 00:06:34,020 distinctive new climate in Paris. The arts flourished, including literature, theater, 76 00:06:34,220 --> 00:06:38,120 and interest in foreign cultures. Stores were stocked with new products, 77 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,420 and the new middle class, dressed in the latest fashions, were out shopping for them. 78 00:06:42,420 --> 00:06:48,920 Paris was on top of the world, attracting scientists, scholars, artists, and writers from all over. 79 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:55,800 The era came to be known in France as Belle Epoque, or Beautiful Epoque. The peak of this era is often 80 00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:01,660 encapsulated by the world's fairs held in Paris during this time, which showcased art, technology, 81 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:07,000 and excitement of this era. While uncomfortable to admit, I think it's important to acknowledge that 82 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:12,200 France's rapid economic and industrial growth was built on the back of colonization. 83 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:19,380 The slave trade and plundering natural resources from new foreign territories, particularly in Africa, 84 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:25,260 Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. These French colonies provided raw materials for the new factories 85 00:07:25,260 --> 00:07:31,140 and markets for new products. And it's important that we draw a sharp distinction about the good we get 86 00:07:31,140 --> 00:07:36,260 out of all this and acknowledge the millions of lives, families, and communities that were ruined, 87 00:07:36,260 --> 00:07:43,100 enslaved, killed, and lost forever to history in the process. Industrialization was creating 88 00:07:43,100 --> 00:07:50,120 unprecedented prosperity for some, but untold misery for a lot more. The artistic and cultural 89 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:55,640 achievements of the Belle Epoque have sometimes been used to distract or even justify colonization 90 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:02,080 and slavery. But this is an impossible assumption. Rather than inevitability in the march of progress, 91 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:07,420 I can't help but wonder how much better the global community would have developed and evolved without 92 00:08:07,940 --> 00:08:13,000 colonization and slavery. How much more would the rest of Europe prosper if Europe were more interested 93 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:20,400 in sharing wealth and knowledge rather than hoarding it? This isn't just my woke opinion. Protests, strikes, 94 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:25,660 and riots frequently expressed the disenchantment of those who were being crushed by prosperity. 95 00:08:26,220 --> 00:08:32,820 Revolutions brought down the French government in 1830 and 1848. And as we discussed in another lecture, 96 00:08:33,180 --> 00:08:38,680 workers and soldiers took control of Paris and formed a Marxist commune for two months in 1871. 97 00:08:39,220 --> 00:08:45,180 So as much as we will be extolling the virtues of brilliant artists and gorgeous paintings that came 98 00:08:45,180 --> 00:08:50,620 out of this time, it's easy to romanticize this era and see it all with rose-colored glasses. 99 00:08:50,860 --> 00:08:57,380 I want to make sure we have a proper context in which to view this era. Most of the Post-Impressionists 100 00:08:57,380 --> 00:09:03,340 were born between 1840 and 1870, and they would have witnessed many of these incredible transformations 101 00:09:03,340 --> 00:09:10,760 firsthand. So I want to try now to take you through this era in a different way. We're going to imagine 102 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:17,720 a day in the life of you as a Post-Impressionist painter. When you wake up, you'll be living in Montmartre 103 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:25,080 in the mid-1890s. Montmartre was the place to be for a Post-Impressionist artist, like artists flocked 104 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:30,400 to Brooklyn today. Most of them lived or worked there, at least for a short time. It had once 105 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:35,940 been an old medieval city, but in the mid-19th century, it was annexed as a suburb of a rapidly 106 00:09:35,940 --> 00:09:42,180 growing Paris, and within decades it had been transformed beyond recognition. So let's say 107 00:09:42,180 --> 00:09:48,760 you wake up in your own bed. It's rainy and early, so it's still dark. You reach over and turn on the 108 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:54,440 sconce on the wall to light your gaslight. This was so much more convenient than hunting down some 109 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,940 oil and refilling a lamp, especially first thing in the morning when you haven't had your coffee. 110 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,440 Outside your window, you see the glow in the distance of gaslights in the streets, 111 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:10,020 transforming the nightscape with a romantic glow. The bed you're in is made of plywood—machined nails 112 00:10:10,020 --> 00:10:16,060 and screws. New adhesives and power saws have made affordable furniture possible. Middle-class 113 00:10:16,060 --> 00:10:21,540 people can buy desks, chairs, cupboards, and tables. Before that, furniture had been handcrafted, 114 00:10:21,580 --> 00:10:27,480 made with solid wood and dovetail joints—costly and time-consuming. Same goes for the pajamas 115 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:31,920 you're wearing. They aren't your only pair. You've got a modest dresser there, where you can pull out 116 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:37,800 a change of clothes. New sewing machines, looms, and modern clothing manufacturing. Thus, you go to 117 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,700 the store and pick out something that might actually fit you. You can even find different 118 00:10:42,700 --> 00:10:49,400 sizes of the same shirt. What would your mother say if she could see this? You now go to the bathroom, 119 00:10:49,420 --> 00:10:55,580 and it's actually inside your apartment. That's nice. You flush the toilet when you're done, and that's it. 120 00:10:55,580 --> 00:11:02,320 No bedpan to empty, no outhouse to run to, no hole to dig. And then you go to your wardrobe and grab a 121 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:07,780 clean shirt. These things we take for granted now would have felt much newer and more exciting back then. 122 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:14,240 Now you've got your hat and your boots on, you leave your apartment. It's a newer apartment that looks sleek. 123 00:11:14,540 --> 00:11:21,160 The architects have used plenty of concrete, glass, iron, and steel. It's quite tall and even fitted with an elevator. 124 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:27,560 Glass, iron, steel, and concrete are definitely the architectural wonders of this new age. 125 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:34,200 The Crystal Palace built in London to show off for the Great Exhibition in 1851 was one of the first 126 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:40,600 buildings to showcase how dramatically technology could change architecture. It was a massive open 127 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:46,980 pavilion with very few columns and tons of light because it was mostly made of glass. No one had ever 128 00:11:46,980 --> 00:11:51,940 been in a building like this before. It looked so fragile and light. Many feared the glass would fall 129 00:11:51,940 --> 00:11:58,440 and shatter. Buildings of this size were built out of stone—heavy, opaque stone. This, on the other 130 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:04,500 hand, was an extraordinary sight to behold. Buildings like this changed the way people experienced space 131 00:12:04,500 --> 00:12:10,260 and revolutionized architecture. And new discoveries allowed people to live in tall buildings comfortably 132 00:12:10,260 --> 00:12:15,240 for the first time. Iron and then steel frames allowed buildings to climb higher and higher, 133 00:12:15,700 --> 00:12:21,260 altering the skyline and landscape. Elevators and eventually electric lighting and heating allowed 134 00:12:21,260 --> 00:12:26,540 people to comfortably live at these new altitudes. And, of course, you have a clear view of the Eiffel 135 00:12:26,540 --> 00:12:32,860 Tower from Montmartre. Looming above it all, this new vertical world was undeniably captivating to the 136 00:12:32,860 --> 00:12:39,780 artists who painted the city. So you get out of your elevator and walk down to the coffee shop—an 18th 137 00:12:39,780 --> 00:12:46,720 century innovation—but café culture has exploded in Paris. Where there had been hundreds in the 1700s, 138 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:52,980 there were thousands—maybe tens of thousands—by the late 1800s. These cafés are the social and 139 00:12:52,980 --> 00:12:58,760 intellectual life of the city. They are a place to be seen. Along with bars and clubs, they become a 140 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:04,080 favorite subject for artists of this period. It's nice to be outside now. There are newly installed 141 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:09,940 sidewalks, trees, and parks. It's so much cleaner than you remember it just 10 years ago. Things 142 00:13:09,940 --> 00:13:14,520 seem to smell better than they used to as well. You could actually smell many of the flowers and 143 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:20,320 gardens instead of the fresh sewage running down the gutters. Sure, it's loud and it's busy, lots of 144 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:27,440 people going in all directions. It's simultaneously overwhelming and depressing, but it's also exciting and 145 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:33,560 inspiring. You go into the café and see a few friends in the corner, so you join them at their table. 146 00:13:33,780 --> 00:13:39,040 You're getting caffeinated, sharing stories, sharing painting tips, and showing each other photographs. 147 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:45,000 Communication is speeding up, so if anything new is happening in London, they're going to know about 148 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:51,200 it in Paris the next day, then Berlin and Amsterdam, then in New York City the next week. News and 149 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:57,120 entertainment are printed and disseminated rapidly by newspapers, books, magazines, and even 150 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:02,720 telephone and telegraph. After an hour or so, you leave the café with your head buzzing with new 151 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:09,560 ideas from a radical circle of Austrian artists, newly developed paints to try, a must-see exhibition 152 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:15,780 of African masks, and a new artist in town to check out. Your plain-air obsessed friend tells you about a 153 00:14:15,780 --> 00:14:20,880 spot about five miles outside of town that would be the perfect scene for your landscape painting you've 154 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:27,100 been planning. Apparently, the view from the hillside is gorgeous. You need to stop by the art store that 155 00:14:27,100 --> 00:14:31,660 just opened around the corner, and every day it seems like new pigments are being synthesized by 156 00:14:31,660 --> 00:14:38,360 chemists. Pigments like Ultramarine, a deep, rich blue that historically was made by crushing up 157 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:45,500 lapis lazuli. For centuries, this was an extremely expensive pigment, only found in the most opulent 158 00:14:45,500 --> 00:14:51,500 of paintings. But now, thanks to modern chemistry, you can buy it at the corner shop. An astonishing array of 159 00:14:51,500 --> 00:14:57,500 new synthetic colors followed. Colors once extremely rare in nature were now at your fingertips. And 160 00:14:57,500 --> 00:15:02,540 instead of having to crush up pigments and mix them with oil yourself, you can now buy the paint, 161 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:08,660 pre-mixed in metal tubes, and carry them anywhere. What a time-saver! Making paint was a big messy 162 00:15:08,660 --> 00:15:14,820 inconvenience that took up valuable painting time. You also had choices of pre-stretched canvases to paint 163 00:15:14,820 --> 00:15:20,020 on. If you had the money, you could even buy canvas that was pre-primed with rabbit skin glue and 164 00:15:20,020 --> 00:15:25,460 or gesso. Some of the post-impressionists were incredibly prolific and made hundreds or even 165 00:15:25,460 --> 00:15:31,560 thousands of paintings. These new technologies are what made that possible. If they were making their 166 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:37,660 own paint, stretching and priming their own canvas, it would never at the time. And it makes it so much 167 00:15:37,660 --> 00:15:43,820 easier to break into the art scene. You don't need a workshop of assistants to do all that labor. And big 168 00:15:43,820 --> 00:15:48,280 government or church commissions to pay those bills. If you saved a little money, you can just start 169 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:54,100 painting on your own. You grab a tube of paint that has a brighter hue of orange than you've ever seen. 170 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:59,700 Cadmium pigments are all the rage right now, and they're mesmerizing. You grab a few sticks of 171 00:15:59,700 --> 00:16:04,460 pastels in the same new orange, and you throw everything into your plain air kit that you put 172 00:16:04,460 --> 00:16:09,460 together last summer. You've got this clever little fold-up easel that you can carry in one hand. 173 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:15,260 You've got your pallet in a little box with your tubes of paint. A few spill-proof metal containers for 174 00:16:15,260 --> 00:16:21,220 your turpentine and linseed oil. Eat your heart out, 18th century. You throw in the book you're 175 00:16:21,220 --> 00:16:27,340 reading. A few Japanese prints tucked in the cover for inspiration. Your sketchbook, pencils, and a few 176 00:16:27,340 --> 00:16:33,220 snacks for lunch. Just like paint tubes allowed for portable paint, similar developments made many more 177 00:16:33,220 --> 00:16:38,740 foods available in cans and jars. So you throw a can of peaches in your bag along with a baguette, of course. 178 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:45,920 And how could you forget the last thing for your bag? Your brand new portable box camera from this 179 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:51,760 new American company called Kodak. In addition to the monthly stipend from your banker father, you've 180 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:56,320 recently started selling a few paintings, giving you the money to buy some of these exciting new toys. 181 00:16:56,820 --> 00:17:02,120 If you didn't finish your plain air painting today, you'll be able to take a photograph of the place 182 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:08,260 and finish the painting in your studio using your photograph as a reference. Amazing! You cannot 183 00:17:08,260 --> 00:17:13,780 possibly get more modern than that. We'll talk more in a later lecture about the profound and surprising 184 00:17:13,780 --> 00:17:19,740 ways photography transformed the world of art. Now that you're packed and ready to go, you make your 185 00:17:19,740 --> 00:17:25,240 way to the busy train station. It seems like every time you come, it gets more and more crowded. The speed 186 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:31,100 of life has increased beyond what anyone would recognize in the middle of the century. Trains, steamships, 187 00:17:31,100 --> 00:17:36,240 and soon even cars, are making long-distance travel a possibility for more and more people. 188 00:17:36,780 --> 00:17:42,140 The Post-Impressionists traveled far and wide around France, Europe, and some to the Caribbean and 189 00:17:42,140 --> 00:17:48,120 Pacific Islands. Products and culture from as far as Japan and India are now commonplace in French 190 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:54,300 stores and museums, opening up a world far beyond what even your parents had exposure to. And we'll see 191 00:17:54,300 --> 00:17:59,460 that in their art time and again. You're not traveling too far today, though. You get your ticket, 192 00:17:59,460 --> 00:18:05,240 board the train, and arrive at your stop without too much hassle before noon. On your way outside of 193 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:09,820 the city, looking out the window, you notice a new department store being built, taller than any 194 00:18:09,820 --> 00:18:14,740 you've seen before, made of glass and steel. It looks like something from a Jules Verne novel, 195 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:19,680 who you and all your friends have been reading. A brief walk from the train station, you finally 196 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:25,440 arrive at the spot. Your friend was right. This is a beautiful scene with the gray clouds parting and 197 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:31,040 sun coming out. You've had a bite to eat from your rucksack. Now you've got your easel set up in the 198 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:36,320 perfect spot. The light is still a bit high in the sky, but that's okay. You'll have enough of your 199 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:42,680 composition figured out to let you focus during the sunset to capture those warm, sparkling colors of 200 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:48,660 the golden hour. And even the sunset looks different than it did a generation ago. The smoke from the 201 00:18:48,660 --> 00:18:54,600 factories in the distance have the unintended effect of creating very rich and atmospheric sunsets. 202 00:18:54,840 --> 00:19:00,660 You reach for the brightest, most saturated yellows, oranges, pinks, and purples in your box of paints. 203 00:19:01,900 --> 00:19:07,660 And here is a very direct way in which science and technology was transforming the work of the artist. 204 00:19:08,060 --> 00:19:13,060 There has been an explosion of scientific thought and discovery regarding color the last several 205 00:19:13,060 --> 00:19:19,460 decades. Michel-Eugène Chevrouille, for example, was one of the most celebrated chemists in France 206 00:19:19,460 --> 00:19:27,020 and wrote fascinating articles and books about the way the human mind perceives color and light and space. 207 00:19:27,540 --> 00:19:32,520 Artists were naturally intrigued about these new ideas and were reading and experimenting and 208 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:38,700 circulating these ideas. Chevrouille noticed something interesting about color, that it could appear 209 00:19:38,700 --> 00:19:45,000 quite different depending on the color that was next to it. You've probably seen optical illusions that 210 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:51,300 exploit this phenomenon on the internet. This is all about how we process and interpret color. Our brain 211 00:19:51,300 --> 00:19:58,940 is liable to project colors onto others, particularly neutral grays. Chevrouille developed the color wheel 212 00:19:58,940 --> 00:20:04,680 and began exploring the relationship between colors. And in doing so, he noticed some strange effects 213 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:11,320 created by opposing colors or complementary colors. Red and green, purple and yellow, the colors that 214 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:16,780 sat across from each other on his color wheel. When you place them side by side, they appear more 215 00:20:16,780 --> 00:20:23,200 vibrant and richer. The combination influences how we see them. For most people, this is mildly interesting. 216 00:20:23,460 --> 00:20:28,440 But all this was happening alongside the advent of new artificial pigments that were brighter 217 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:33,820 than anything you could get before. Artists were learning about the way our eyes and minds worked 218 00:20:33,820 --> 00:20:39,140 and wanting to put it into their own work. If you've wondered why the paintings of Vincent van Gogh seemed 219 00:20:39,140 --> 00:20:44,900 to have such an incredibly vibrant quality, he was familiar with Chevrouille's discoveries and used them 220 00:20:44,900 --> 00:20:51,500 every chance he got. And that's because Chevrouille wasn't just about the science. He spoke to artists 221 00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:57,780 directly about how to use contrast and complementary colors to achieve dissonance and harmony. He was very 222 00:20:57,780 --> 00:21:03,720 interested in ways artists could make use of the new science. Optical blending was another important 223 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:09,120 scientific discovery of this era. If you have two points of color small enough, and you stand 224 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:15,000 at a reasonable distance away, then the colors will be mixed by your eyes losing focus as the two dots 225 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:21,080 overlap, and your mind interprets these two colors as one. You can try it yourself. If you put alternating 226 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:27,020 dots of blue and yellow close enough to each other, and then stand back far enough, your eyes will see green. 227 00:21:27,780 --> 00:21:34,280 The theory was that the color your brain created from this mixture would be more luminous and colorful than 228 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:39,440 what you'd have seen if you just mixed two pigments together. We'll get more into depth on how this 229 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:45,300 worked in practice in another lecture. Charles Blanc was another color scientist, and he wrote directly 230 00:21:45,300 --> 00:21:51,120 to artists about color's emotional significance. He said something that sounds a little weird to us now, 231 00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:57,260 but was helpful to young artists. Color should not be based on the judgment of taste, but rather it should 232 00:21:57,260 --> 00:22:03,980 be close to what we experience in reality. Blanc did not want artists to use equal intensities of color 233 00:22:03,980 --> 00:22:10,680 all over without thought, but to consciously plan and understand the way each color influences each other 234 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:16,740 in creating a whole. His writings on color were widely read and passed around by the Post-Impressionists. 235 00:22:17,380 --> 00:22:23,360 But let's get back to our day trip. After a long afternoon of painting punctuated by a brief nap, 236 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:29,640 the sun has now set and it's time to head home. As you approach the train station, it looks bright and 237 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:35,040 crisp under the newly installed electric lights. You're inspired to sketch the effect this light 238 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:40,180 has on the shadows in your sketchbook. You're also jotting down notes about what you need to add to the 239 00:22:40,180 --> 00:22:46,340 painting when you get back home to your studio. After you get home from the train station and relax for a bit, 240 00:22:46,340 --> 00:22:51,600 you're still so energized from such an inspiring day, you decide to head out into the night to see 241 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:57,080 what's happening. Perhaps the Moulin Rouge. Electricity is beginning to transform the very 242 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:04,000 concept of nightlife as it becomes cheap and easy to stay open at all hours. As more clubs got electric 243 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:09,620 lights, they could stay open longer. It was intoxicating as it seemed like the city was always pulsing with 244 00:23:09,620 --> 00:23:15,780 energy. This energy captured in countless ways by the many artists who found themselves drawn to this 245 00:23:15,780 --> 00:23:24,700 exciting new nocturnal world. The harsh bright white light of electricity was a huge change from the warm glow 246 00:23:24,700 --> 00:23:31,560 of candles or lamps. As you're walking toward the pole of the nightlife, the sound of the music and the 247 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:38,040 dancing. A poster captures your eye. The Lumiere brothers are exhibiting a motion picture at the Grand 248 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:44,840 Cafe. Wow! You've heard of this before? A picture that moves? And now's your chance to see an actual 249 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:50,400 moving picture for the first time in your life. This would actually be the world's first commercial 250 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:55,820 movie screening. You had to pay a few francs to get in. Paris was an exciting city to be in. 251 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:01,320 Just a few years earlier, the Lumiere brothers were running a photo plate factory in Lyon. 252 00:24:01,700 --> 00:24:07,180 Their dad August saw a demonstration of Edison's kinetoscope and was wowed. When he told his sons 253 00:24:07,180 --> 00:24:12,840 about it, he said, I bet you can make a better one. Just one year later, they patent a cinematograph, 254 00:24:13,220 --> 00:24:19,400 a combination movie camera and projector that could display moving images on a screen for an audience. 255 00:24:19,660 --> 00:24:23,800 It was smaller, lighter, and used less film than what Edison had come up with. 256 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:29,280 Each film was 17 meters long, and when you hand-crank it through the cinematograph, 257 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:34,160 the movie takes about 50 seconds, or about the length of an Instagram video. 258 00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:42,000 After successful café screenings the next year, in 1896, the Lumiere brothers opened cinemas to 259 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:47,840 showcase their tech. They even hired camera crews to travel around the world to film cool and interesting 260 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:53,700 locales. Movies instantly jump across the Atlantic to the U.S., where the first movie theater opens that 261 00:24:53,700 --> 00:24:59,780 same year in New Orleans. At the screening, you see a photographer and a writer friend who are equally 262 00:24:59,780 --> 00:25:05,080 excited about this new technology. The three of you agree to go grab a drink to talk more about the 263 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:10,340 possibilities of this new medium. Think of the stories you could tell, the pictures you could animate. 264 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:17,040 The motion camera will be the next big thing to transform how we see the world. The possibilities are 265 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:22,900 endless. This was heady stuff, and you're getting more ideas for the landscape painting you started today. 266 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:30,100 Was that just earlier today? So much has happened, it's hard to believe. The speed of modern life seems 267 00:25:30,100 --> 00:25:37,300 to be accelerating. This anxious anticipation and over-stimulation leave you feeling sick and 268 00:25:37,300 --> 00:25:43,620 melancholy the next morning. So you decide to stay inside, drinking absinthe and brooding moodily all day. 269 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,240 Some things about the life of the artist never change.