Louis Anquetin, Gust of Wind, 1889

Synthetism was a movement started after some disgruntled artists decided they were tired of all things Impressionist. In order to move past the famous period, the artists of the Synthetism movement painted not what they saw, but what they remembered seeing, and took total control of their scenes. The leaders of the Synthetism movement were known for solid color blocks, shapes outined in black, and little perception of depth. Anquetin was no different. Anquetin, along with Emile Bernard, headed a movement within Synthetism called Cloisonnism, named after it's similar appearance to the form of mosaic which used melted metal in the between the shapes. This technique was frequently noted as looking somewhat like stain glass windows, and is what Anquetin became famous for.

This painting takes place over the Seine River in France. Although little is known about the details of the painting, it serves as a good representation of what Synthetism was all about. It is quite possible that the scene is something that Anquetin saw one day and decided to recreate at a later time, as many of his fellow artists did. The scene clearly differs from the Impressionists because the scene lacks the realistic qualities that they strived for. The horses, buildings, and woman are all outlined in black, which was traditional of Sythetism. In addition, the colors are clearly not as Anquetin really saw them, and the clouds did not really look that way, but in typical Synthetism fashion, the general idea of the scene is portrayed. 

I picked this painting because I really like the way Anquetin paints the scene. I like that the colors are blocks, but there are some variations of the colors. I also like that the painting has some motion without the use of shading or color mixing. For me, the scarf is what makes the title of the painting make sense. Although there is some movement in the horses manes, the scarf's swirling qualities draw attention to the chaos that Anquetin felt in the scene. Despite how uncharacteristic the swirling scarf is for the movement, I liked it because it draws attention to how motionless the rest of the scene is.