The Kimbell Art Museum presents a free screening of “The Final Flourish” (2011, 60 min.) at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 13, in the Kahn Auditorium. This screening is part of “The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution,” a film series at the Museum. No reservations are required. Admission is free.
“The Final Flourish” chronicles the late years of Impressionism, focusing first on the training and influences of Georges Seurat. By examining Seurat’s work, critic Waldemar Januszczak illustrates the relationship between optical science and the work of the Impressionists—-they paid particular attention to the ways in which the human eye absorbs color and light. Januszczak also covers Van Gogh’s time in Paris, a period about which little is known, and how it shaped his career. The film concludes with a visit to the Orangerie in Paris, where Monet’s massive waterlily paintings reside. Returning to the issue of optics, Januszczak investigates how the artist’s failing sight influenced his painting technique, creating abstracted images that reinvigorated the Impressionists’ radical reputation at the turn of the 19th century.
Films from “The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution” will show on selected dates at the Museum throughout the coming months. Recorded at many of the locations where the movement emerged and took shape, the series explores the cultural factors and formal concerns that motivated the Impressionists to depart from tradition and forge their own stylistic path. These films also look at scientific advances that allowed the new visual idiom to develop.
www.kimbellart.org