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Impressionism was a 19th-century
art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defi ...
characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience. Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. The Impressionists faced harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France. The name of the style derives from the title of a
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
work, ''Impression, soleil levant'' ('' Impression, Sunrise''), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...
review published in the Parisian newspaper '' Le Charivari''. The development of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by analogous styles in other media that became known as
impressionist music Impressionism in music was a movement among various composers in Western classical music (mainly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries) whose music focuses on mood and atmosphere, "conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subjec ...
and impressionist literature.


Overview

Radicals in their time, early Impressionists violated the rules of academic painting. They constructed their pictures from freely brushed colours that took precedence over lines and contours, following the example of painters such as
Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: British ...
and
J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
. They also painted realistic scenes of modern life, and often painted outdoors. Previously,
still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...
s and
portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...
s as well as landscapes were usually painted in a studio. The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting outdoors or ''
en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
''. They portrayed overall visual effects instead of details, and used short "broken" brush strokes of mixed and pure unmixed colour—not blended smoothly or shaded, as was customary—to achieve an effect of intense colour vibration. Impressionism emerged in France at the same time that a number of other painters, including the Italian artists known as the Macchiaioli, and
Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure ...
in the United States, were also exploring ''plein-air'' painting. The Impressionists, however, developed new techniques specific to the style. Encompassing what its adherents argued was a different way of seeing, it is an art of immediacy and movement, of candid poses and compositions, of the play of light expressed in a bright and varied use of colour. The public, at first hostile, gradually came to believe that the Impressionists had captured a fresh and original vision, even if the art critics and art establishment disapproved of the new style. By recreating the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than delineating the details of the subject, and by creating a welter of techniques and forms, Impressionism is a precursor of various painting styles, including
Neo-Impressionism Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the beg ...
,
Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...
,
Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...
, and
Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
.


Beginnings

In the middle of the 19th century—a time of change, as Emperor
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...
rebuilt Paris and waged war—the
Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
dominated French art. The Académie was the preserver of traditional French painting standards of content and style. Historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits were valued; landscape and still life were not. The Académie preferred carefully finished images that looked realistic when examined closely. Paintings in this style were made up of precise brush strokes carefully blended to hide the artist's hand in the work. Colour was restrained and often toned down further by the application of a golden varnish. The Académie had an annual, juried art show, the
Salon de Paris The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
, and artists whose work was displayed in the show won prizes, garnered commissions, and enhanced their prestige. The standards of the juries represented the values of the Académie, represented by the works of such artists as
Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...
and Alexandre Cabanel. In the early 1860s, four young painters—
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille—met while studying under the academic artist Charles Gleyre. They discovered that they shared an interest in painting landscape and contemporary life rather than historical or mythological scenes. Following a practice—pioneered by artists such as the Englishman John Constable— that had become increasingly popular by mid-century, they often ventured into the countryside together to paint in the open air. Their purpose was not to make sketches to be developed into carefully finished works in the studio, as was the usual custom, but to complete their paintings out-of-doors. By painting in sunlight directly from nature, and making bold use of the vivid synthetic pigments that had become available since the beginning of the century, they began to develop a lighter and brighter manner of painting that extended further the Realism of
Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...
and the
Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its nam ...
. A favourite meeting place for the artists was the
Café Guerbois Café Guerbois, on Avenue de Clichy in Paris, was the site of late 19th-century discussions and planning amongst artists, writers and art lovers – the '' bohèmes'' (bohemians), in contrast to the ''bourgeois''. Centered on Édouard Ma ...
on Avenue de Clichy in Paris, where the discussions were often led by Édouard Manet, whom the younger artists greatly admired. They were soon joined by Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, and Armand Guillaumin. During the 1860s, the Salon jury routinely rejected about half of the works submitted by Monet and his friends in favour of works by artists faithful to the approved style. In 1863, the Salon jury rejected Manet's ''The Luncheon on the Grass'' ''( Le déjeuner sur l'herbe)'' primarily because it depicted a nude woman with two clothed men at a picnic. While the Salon jury routinely accepted nudes in historical and allegorical paintings, they condemned Manet for placing a realistic nude in a contemporary setting. The jury's severely worded rejection of Manet's painting appalled his admirers, and the unusually large number of rejected works that year perturbed many French artists. After Emperor Napoleon III saw the rejected works of 1863, he decreed that the public be allowed to judge the work themselves, and the Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Refused) was organized. While many viewers came only to laugh, the Salon des Refusés drew attention to the existence of a new tendency in art and attracted more visitors than the regular Salon. Artists' petitions requesting a new Salon des Refusés in 1867, and again in 1872, were denied. In December 1873, Monet,
Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...
, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas and several other artists founded the ''Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs'' ("Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers") to exhibit their artworks independently. Members of the association were expected to forswear participation in the Salon. The organizers invited a number of other progressive artists to join them in their inaugural exhibition, including the older
Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 18248 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summa ...
, whose example had first persuaded Monet to adopt ''plein air'' painting years before. Another painter who greatly influenced Monet and his friends, Johan Jongkind, declined to participate, as did Édouard Manet. In total, thirty artists participated in their first exhibition, held in April 1874 at the studio of the photographer
Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloonist, and proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first perso ...
. The critical response was mixed. Monet and Cézanne received the harshest attacks. Critic and humorist Louis Leroy wrote a scathing review in the newspaper ''Le Charivari'' in which, making wordplay with the title of Claude Monet's '' Impression, Sunrise'' ''(Impression, soleil levant)'', he gave the artists the name by which they became known. Derisively titling his article " The Exhibition of the Impressionists", Leroy declared that Monet's painting was at most, a sketch, and could hardly be termed a finished work. He wrote, in the form of a dialogue between viewers, :"Impression—I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it ... and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape." The term ''Impressionist'' quickly gained favour with the public. It was also accepted by the artists themselves, even though they were a diverse group in style and temperament, unified primarily by their spirit of independence and rebellion. They exhibited together—albeit with shifting membership—eight times between 1874 and 1886. The Impressionists' style, with its loose, spontaneous brushstrokes, would soon become synonymous with modern life. Monet, Sisley, Morisot, and Pissarro may be considered the "purest" Impressionists, in their consistent pursuit of an art of spontaneity, sunlight, and colour. Degas rejected much of this, as he believed in the primacy of drawing over colour and belittled the practice of painting outdoors. Renoir turned away from Impressionism for a time during the 1880s, and never entirely regained his commitment to its ideas. Édouard Manet, although regarded by the Impressionists as their leader, never abandoned his liberal use of black as a colour (while Impressionists avoided its use and preferred to obtain darker colours by mixing), and never participated in the Impressionist exhibitions. He continued to submit his works to the Salon, where his painting ''Spanish Singer'' had won a 2nd class medal in 1861, and he urged the others to do likewise, arguing that "the Salon is the real field of battle" where a reputation could be made. Among the artists of the core group (minus Bazille, who had died in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870), defections occurred as Cézanne, followed later by Renoir, Sisley, and Monet, abstained from the group exhibitions so they could submit their works to the Salon. Disagreements arose from issues such as Guillaumin's membership in the group, championed by Pissarro and Cézanne against opposition from Monet and Degas, who thought him unworthy. Degas invited Mary Cassatt to display her work in the 1879 exhibition, but also insisted on the inclusion of Jean-François Raffaëlli, Ludovic Lepic, and other realists who did not represent Impressionist practices, causing Monet in 1880 to accuse the Impressionists of "opening doors to first-come daubers". The group divided over invitations to
Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. Biography Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. ...
and Georges Seurat to exhibit with them in 1886. Pissarro was the only artist to show at all eight Impressionist exhibitions. The individual artists achieved few financial rewards from the Impressionist exhibitions, but their art gradually won a degree of public acceptance and support. Their dealer, Durand-Ruel, played a major role in this as he kept their work before the public and arranged shows for them in London and New York. Although Sisley died in poverty in 1899, Renoir had a great Salon success in 1879. Monet became secure financially during the early 1880s and so did Pissarro by the early 1890s. By this time the methods of Impressionist painting, in a diluted form, had become commonplace in Salon art.


Impressionist techniques

French painters who prepared the way for Impressionism include the
Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
colourist
Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: British ...
, the leader of the realists
Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...
, and painters of the Barbizon school such as
Théodore Rousseau Étienne Pierre Théodore Rousseau (April 15, 1812December 22, 1867) was a French painter of the Barbizon school. Life Youth He was born in Paris, France in a bourgeois family. At first he received a basic level of training, but soon displaye ...
. The Impressionists learned much from the work of Johan Barthold Jongkind,
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his va ...
and
Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 18248 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summa ...
, who painted from nature in a direct and spontaneous style that prefigured Impressionism, and who befriended and advised the younger artists. A number of identifiable techniques and working habits contributed to the innovative style of the Impressionists. Although these methods had been used by previous artists—and are often conspicuous in the work of artists such as
Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century gro ...
,
Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of the ...
,
Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...
, John Constable, and J. M. W. Turner—the Impressionists were the first to use them all together, and with such consistency. These techniques include: * Short, thick strokes of paint quickly capture the essence of the subject, rather than its details. The paint is often applied impasto. * Colours are applied side by side with as little mixing as possible, a technique that exploits the principle of simultaneous contrast to make the colour appear more vivid to the viewer. * Greys and dark tones are produced by mixing complementary colours. Pure impressionism avoids the use of black paint. * Wet paint is placed into wet paint without waiting for successive applications to dry, producing softer edges and intermingling of colour. * Impressionist paintings do not exploit the transparency of thin paint films (glazes), which earlier artists manipulated carefully to produce effects. The impressionist painting surface is typically opaque. * The paint is applied to a white or light-coloured ground. Previously, painters often used dark grey or strongly coloured grounds. * The play of natural light is emphasized. Close attention is paid to the reflection of colours from object to object. Painters often worked in the evening to produce '' effets de soir''—the shadowy effects of evening or twilight. * In paintings made ''
en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
'' (outdoors), shadows are boldly painted with the blue of the sky as it is reflected onto surfaces, giving a sense of freshness previously not represented in painting. (Blue shadows on snow inspired the technique.) New technology played a role in the development of the style. Impressionists took advantage of the mid-century introduction of premixed paints in tin tubes (resembling modern toothpaste tubes), which allowed artists to work more spontaneously, both outdoors and indoors. Previously, painters made their own paints individually, by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil, which were then stored in animal bladders. Many vivid synthetic pigments became commercially available to artists for the first time during the 19th century. These included cobalt blue, viridian,
cadmium yellow Cadmium pigments are a class of pigments that contain cadmium. Most of the cadmium produced worldwide has been for use in rechargeable nickel–cadmium batteries, which have been replaced by other rechargeable nickel-chemistry cell varieties ...
, and synthetic ultramarine blue, all of which were in use by the 1840s, before Impressionism. The Impressionists' manner of painting made bold use of these pigments, and of even newer colours such as
cerulean blue Cerulean (), also spelled caerulean, is a shade of blue ranging between azure and a darker sky blue. The first recorded use of ''cerulean'' as a colour name in English was in 1590. The word is derived from the Latin word '' caeruleus'', "da ...
, which became commercially available to artists in the 1860s.Wallert, Arie; Hermens, Erma; Peek, Marja (1995)
''Historical painting techniques, materials, and studio practise: preprints of a symposium, University of Leiden, Netherlands, 26–29 June 1995''
arina Del Rey, Calif. Arina is a feminine given name. Origins As a Slavic name, Арина, it is a variant of Irina, meaning ''peace''. It is also a Japanese name meaning ''Gold'' and a Kurdish/Persian name meaning ''Prince of Persia''. In history, Arina is Gree ...
Getty Conservation Institute. p. 159. .
The Impressionists' progress toward a brighter style of painting was gradual. During the 1860s, Monet and Renoir sometimes painted on canvases prepared with the traditional red-brown or grey ground.Stoner, Joyce Hill; Rushfield, Rebecca Anne (2012)
''The conservation of easel paintings''. London: Routledge. p. 177
. .
By the 1870s, Monet, Renoir, and Pissarro usually chose to paint on grounds of a lighter grey or beige colour, which functioned as a middle tone in the finished painting. By the 1880s, some of the Impressionists had come to prefer white or slightly off-white grounds, and no longer allowed the ground colour a significant role in the finished painting.


Content and composition

Prior to the Impressionists, other painters, notably such 17th-century Dutch painters as Jan Steen, had emphasized common subjects, but their methods of composition were traditional. They arranged their compositions so that the main subject commanded the viewer's attention.
J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
, while an artist of the
Romantic era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, anticipated the style of impressionism with his artwork. The Impressionists relaxed the boundary between subject and background so that the effect of an Impressionist painting often resembles a snapshot, a part of a larger reality captured as if by chance. Photography was gaining popularity, and as cameras became more portable, photographs became more candid. Photography inspired Impressionists to represent momentary action, not only in the fleeting lights of a landscape, but in the day-to-day lives of people. The development of Impressionism can be considered partly as a reaction by artists to the challenge presented by photography, which seemed to devalue the artist's skill in reproducing reality. Both portrait and
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
paintings were deemed somewhat deficient and lacking in truth as photography "produced lifelike images much more efficiently and reliably". In spite of this, photography actually inspired artists to pursue other means of creative expression, and rather than compete with photography to emulate reality, artists focused "on the one thing they could inevitably do better than the photograph—by further developing into an art form its very subjectivity in the conception of the image, the very subjectivity that photography eliminated". The Impressionists sought to express their perceptions of nature, rather than create exact representations. This allowed artists to depict subjectively what they saw with their "tacit imperatives of taste and conscience".Sontag, Susan (1977) On Photography, Penguin, London Photography encouraged painters to exploit aspects of the painting medium, like colour, which photography then lacked: "The Impressionists were the first to consciously offer a subjective alternative to the photograph".Levinson, Paul (1997) ''The Soft Edge; a Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution'', Routledge, London and New York Another major influence was Japanese
ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ...
art prints (
Japonism ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japo ...
). The art of these prints contributed significantly to the "snapshot" angles and unconventional compositions that became characteristic of Impressionism. An example is Monet's ''Jardin à Sainte-Adresse'', 1867, with its bold blocks of colour and composition on a strong diagonal slant showing the influence of Japanese prints. Edgar Degas was both an avid photographer and a collector of Japanese prints. His ''The Dance Class'' ''(La classe de danse)'' of 1874 shows both influences in its asymmetrical composition. The dancers are seemingly caught off guard in various awkward poses, leaving an expanse of empty floor space in the lower right quadrant. He also captured his dancers in sculpture, such as the '' Little Dancer of Fourteen Years''.


Women Impressionists

Impressionists, in varying degrees, were looking for ways to depict visual experience and contemporary subjects. Women Impressionists were interested in these same ideals but had many social and career limitations compared to male Impressionists. They were particularly excluded from the imagery of the bourgeois social sphere of the boulevard, cafe, and dance hall. As well as imagery, women were excluded from the formative discussions that resulted in meetings in those places; that was where male Impressionists were able to form and share ideas about Impressionism. In the academic realm, women were believed to be incapable of handling complex subjects which led teachers to restrict what they taught female students. It was also considered unladylike to excel in art since women's true talents were then believed to center on homemaking and mothering. Yet several women were able to find success during their lifetime, even though their careers were affected by personal circumstances – Bracquemond, for example, had a husband who was resentful of her work which caused her to give up painting. The four most well known, namely, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond, and Berthe Morisot, are, and were, often referred to as the 'Women Impressionists'. Their participation in the series of eight Impressionist exhibitions that took place in Paris from 1874 to 1886 varied: Morisot participated in seven, Cassatt in four, Bracquemond in three, and Gonzalès did not participate. The critics of the time lumped these four together without regard to their personal styles, techniques, or subject matter. Critics viewing their works at the exhibitions often attempted to acknowledge the women artists' talents but circumscribed them within a limited notion of femininity. Arguing for the suitability of Impressionist technique to women's manner of perception, Parisian critic S.C. de Soissons wrote:
One can understand that women have no originality of thought, and that literature and music have no feminine character; but surely women know how to observe, and what they see is quite different from that which men see, and the art which they put in their gestures, in their toilet, in the decoration of their environment is sufficient to give is the idea of an instinctive, of a peculiar genius which resides in each one of them.
While Impressionism legitimized the domestic social life as subject matter, of which women had intimate knowledge, it also tended to limit them to that subject matter. Portrayals of often-identifiable sitters in domestic settings (which could offer commissions) were dominant in the exhibitions. The subjects of the paintings were often women interacting with their environment by either their gaze or movement. Cassatt, in particular, was aware of her placement of subjects: she kept her predominantly female figures from objectification and cliche; when they are not reading, they converse, sew, drink tea, and when they are inactive, they seem lost in thought. The women Impressionists, like their male counterparts, were striving for "truth," for new ways of seeing and new painting techniques; each artist had an individual painting style. Women Impressionists (particularly Morisot and Cassatt) were conscious of the balance of power between women and objects in their paintings – the bourgeois women depicted are not defined by decorative objects, but instead, interact with and dominate the things with which they live. There are many similarities in their depictions of women who seem both at ease and subtly confined. Gonzalès' ''Box at the Italian Opera'' depicts a woman staring into the distance, at ease in a social sphere but confined by the box and the man standing next to her. Cassatt's painting ''Young Girl at a Window'' is brighter in color but remains constrained by the canvas edge as she looks out the window. Despite their success in their ability to have a career and Impressionism's demise attributed to its allegedly feminine characteristics (its sensuality, dependence on sensation, physicality, and fluidity) the four women artists (and other, lesser-known women Impressionists) were largely omitted from art historical textbooks covering Impressionist artists until Tamar Garb's ''Women Impressionists'' published in 1986. For example, ''Impressionism'' by Jean Leymarie, published in 1955 included no information on any women Impressionists. Painter Androniqi Zengo Antoniu is co-credited with the introduction of impressionism to Albania.


Prominent Impressionists

The central figures in the development of Impressionism in France, listed alphabetically, were: * Frédéric Bazille (1841–1870), who only posthumously participated in the Impressionist exhibitions * Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894), who, younger than the others, joined forces with them in the mid-1870s * Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), American-born, she lived in Paris and participated in four Impressionist exhibitions * Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), although he later broke away from the Impressionists * Edgar Degas (1834–1917), who despised the term ''Impressionist'' * Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927) * Édouard Manet (1832–1883), who did not participate in any of the Impressionist exhibitions *
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
(1840–1926), the most prolific of the Impressionists and the one who embodies their aesthetic most obviously * Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) who participated in all Impressionist exhibitions except in 1879 * Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) *
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
(1841–1919), who participated in Impressionist exhibitions in 1874, 1876, 1877 and 1882 * Alfred Sisley (1839–1899)


Gallery

File:Frederic Bazille Paysage au bord du Lez.jpg, Frédéric Bazille, ''Paysage au bord du Lez'', 1870,
Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United Stat ...
File:Sisley-Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne.jpg, Alfred Sisley, ''Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne'', 1872,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
File:Berthe Morisot, Le berceau (The Cradle), 1872.jpg, Berthe Morisot, '' The Cradle'', 1872,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...
File:Guillaumin SoleilCouchantAIvry.jpg, Armand Guillaumin, ''Sunset at Ivry (Soleil couchant à Ivry)'', 1873,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...
File:Edouard Manet Boating.jpg, Édouard Manet, ''Boating'', 1874,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
File:Sisley la seine au point du jour 1877.jpg, Alfred Sisley, ''La Seine au Point du jour'', 1877,
Museum of modern art André Malraux – MuMa A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
,
Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, ver ...
File:Edouard Manet 039.jpg, Édouard Manet, '' The Plum'', 1878,
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...
, Washington, D.C. File:La Falaise à Fécamp - Claude Monet - ABDAG003046.jpg, alt=Landscape painting depicting the cliffs of Normandy by Claude Moneyt,
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, ''La Falaise à Fécamp'', 1881, Aberdeen Art Gallery File:Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.jpg, Édouard Manet, '' A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (Un Bar aux Folies-Bergère)'', 1882, Courtauld Institute of Art File:Edgar Degas - After the bath, woman drying herself - Google Art Project.jpg, Edgar Degas, ''After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself'', c. 1884–1886 (reworked between 1890 and 1900), MuMa,
Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, ver ...
File:Edgar Degas - In a Café - Google Art Project 2.jpg, Edgar Degas, ''
L'Absinthe ''L'Absinthe'' (English: ''The Absinthe Drinker'' or ''Glass of Absinthe'') is a painting by Edgar Degas, painted between 1875 and 1876. Its original title was ''Dans un Café'', a name often used today. Other early titles were ''A sketch of a F ...
'', 1876,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...
, Paris File:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 069.jpg, Edgar Degas, ''Dancer Taking a Bow (The Prima Ballerina)'', 1878, Getty Center, Los Angeles File:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 032.jpg, Edgar Degas, ''Woman in the Bath'', 1886, Hill–Stead Museum,
Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 26,712 at the 2020 census. It sits 10 miles west of Hartford at the hub of major I-84 interchanges, 20 miles ...
File:Edgar Degas - Dancers at the Barre - Google Art Project.jpg, Edgar Degas, ''Dancers at The Bar'', 1888, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. File:Gustave Caillebotte - Paris Street; Rainy Day - Google Art Project.jpg, Gustave Caillebotte, ''
Paris Street; Rainy Day ''Paris Street; Rainy Day'' (french: Rue de Paris, temps de pluie) is a large 1877 oil painting by the French artist Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894), and is his best known work.Hagen, 624 It shows a number of individuals walking through the Pl ...
'', 1877,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 089.jpg,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
, '' La Parisienne'', 1874, National Museum Cardiff File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1880, Portrait of Mademoiselle Irène Cahen d'Anvers, Sammlung E.G. Bührle.jpg,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
, '' Portrait of Irène Cahen d'Anvers'' (''La Petite Irène''), 1880,
Foundation E.G. Bührle Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
, Zürich File:Two Sisters (On the Terrace).jpg,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
, ''
Two Sisters (On the Terrace) ''Two Sisters'' or ''On the Terrace'' is an 1881 oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The dimensions of the painting are 100.5 cm × 81 cm. The title ''Two Siste ...
'', 1881,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...
File:Girl with a Hoop.JPG,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
, ''Girl with a Hoop'', 1885, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. File:Camille Pissarro Washerwoman, Study The Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg, Camille Pissarro, ''Washerwoman, Study'', 1880.
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
File:Camille Pissarro - Conversation - Google Art Project.jpg, Camille Pissarro, ''Conversation'', c. 1881. National Museum of Western Art File:Claude Monet The Cliffs at Etretat.jpg,
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, ''The Cliff at Étretat after the Storm'', 1885, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts File:The Child's Bath by Mary Cassatt 1893.jpg, Mary Cassatt, '' The Child's Bath (The Bath)'', 1893, oil on canvas,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...
File:Brooklyn Museum - Portrait of Mme Boursier and Her Daughter (Portrait de Mme Boursier et de sa fille) - Berthe Morisot.jpg, Berthe Morisot, ''Portrait of Mme Boursier and Her Daughter'', c. 1873,
Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...
File:Claude Monet, Le Grand Canal.jpg,
Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, ''
Le Grand Canal ''Le Grand Canal'' is an oil on canvas painting by French Impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840–1926). It is one of six paintings looking down the Grand Canal towards the Salute church. This Grand Canal series is in turn part of a larger ...
'', 1908,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...


Timeline: lives of the Impressionists


Associates and influenced artists

Among the close associates of the Impressionists were several painters who adopted their methods to some degree. These include Jean-Louis Forain (who participated in Impressionist exhibitions in 1879, 1880, 1881 and 1886) and Giuseppe De Nittis, an Italian artist living in Paris who participated in the first Impressionist exhibit at the invitation of Degas, although the other Impressionists disparaged his work.
Federico Zandomeneghi Federico Zandomeneghi (; June 2, 1841 – December 31, 1917) was an Italian Impressionist painter. Biography Federico Zandomeneghi was born in Venice. His father Pietro and grandfather Luigi were neoclassic sculptors. The latter completed ...
was another Italian friend of Degas who showed with the Impressionists. Eva Gonzalès was a follower of Manet who did not exhibit with the group. James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born painter who played a part in Impressionism although he did not join the group and preferred grayed colours. Walter Sickert, an English artist, was initially a follower of Whistler, and later an important disciple of Degas; he did not exhibit with the Impressionists. In 1904 the artist and writer Wynford Dewhurst wrote the first important study of the French painters published in English, ''Impressionist Painting: its genesis and development'', which did much to popularize Impressionism in Great Britain. By the early 1880s, Impressionist methods were affecting, at least superficially, the art of the Salon. Fashionable painters such as
Jean Béraud Jean Béraud (; January 12, 1849 – October 4, 1935) was a French painter renowned for his numerous paintings depicting the life of Paris, and the nightlife of Paris society. Pictures of the Champs Elysees, cafés, Montmartre and the banks of ...
and Henri Gervex found critical and financial success by brightening their palettes while retaining the smooth finish expected of Salon art. Works by these artists are sometimes casually referred to as Impressionism, despite their remoteness from Impressionist practice. The influence of the French Impressionists lasted long after most of them had died. Artists like J.D. Kirszenbaum were borrowing Impressionist techniques throughout the twentieth century.


Beyond France

As the influence of Impressionism spread beyond France, artists, too numerous to list, became identified as practitioners of the new style. Some of the more important examples are: * The American Impressionists, including Mary Cassatt,
William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design ...
, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf,
Lilla Cabot Perry Lilla Cabot Perry (born Lydia Cabot; January 13, 1848 – February 28, 1933) was an American artist who worked in the American Impressionist style, rendering portraits and landscapes in the free form manner of her mentor, Claude Monet. Perry was ...
, Theodore Robinson,
Edmund Charles Tarbell Edmund Charles Tarbell (April 26, 1862August 1, 1938) was an American Impressionist painter. A member of the Ten American Painters, his work hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Smithson ...
, John Henry Twachtman, Catherine Wiley and
J. Alden Weir Julian Alden Weir (August 30, 1852 – December 8, 1919) was an American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony near Greenwich, Connecticut. Weir was also one of the founding members of "The Ten", a loosely allied group of ...
. * The Australian Impressionists, including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton,
Walter Withers Walter Herbert Withers (22 October 1854 – 13 October 1914) was an English-born Australian landscape artist and a member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionists. Biography Withers was born at Handsworth, Staffordshire, the s ...
, Charles Conder and Frederick McCubbin (who were prominent members of the Heidelberg School), and
John Russell John Russell may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Russell (English painter) (1745–1806), English painter * John Russell (Australian painter) (1858–1930), Australian painter * John Russell (screenwriter) (1885–1956), author and scree ...
, a friend of Van Gogh, Rodin, Monet and Matisse. * The Amsterdam Impressionists in the
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, including George Hendrik Breitner, Isaac Israëls, Willem Bastiaan Tholen, Willem de Zwart, Willem Witsen and
Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' TooropJan Toorop
California Impressionists, including William Wendt, Guy Rose, Alson Clark,
Donna N. Schuster Donna N. Schuster (born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1883) was an easel painter who created work in the style of modern impressionism using the medium of oil and watercolor. She focused her work in Wisconsin then later moved to Los Angeles, California ...
, and Sam Hyde Harris. *
Anna Boch Anna Rosalie Boch (10 February 1848 – 25 February 1936) was a Belgium, Belgian Painting, painter, born in La Louvière, Saint-Vaast, Hainaut (province), Hainaut. Anna Boch died in Ixelles in 1936 and is interred there in the Ixelles Cemetery ...
,
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
's friend Eugène Boch, Georges Lemmen and Théo van Rysselberghe, Impressionist painters from
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
. * Ivan Grohar, Rihard Jakopič, Matija Jama, and
Matej Sternen Matej Sternen (20 September 1870 – 28 June 1949) was a leading Slovene Impressionist painter. Sternen was born in Verd, now part of the Carniolan municipality of Vrhnika, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and baptized ''Matthæus Str ...
, Impressionists from Slovenia. Their beginning was in the school of Anton Ažbe in Munich and they were influenced by Jurij Šubic and Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painters working in Paris. * Wynford Dewhurst,
Walter Richard Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...
, and Philip Wilson Steer were well known Impressionist painters from the United Kingdom. Pierre Adolphe Valette, who was born in France but who worked in Manchester, was the tutor of L. S. Lowry. * The German Impressionists, including Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, Ernst Oppler, Max Slevogt and
August von Brandis August Friedrich Carl von Brandis (12 May 1859 in Berlin-Haselhorst - 18 October 1947 in Aachen) was a German impressionist painter, best known for his interiors. He painted Aachen Cathedral in several works. Biography August von Brandis cam ...
. * László Mednyánszky and Pál Szinyei-Merse in Hungary *
Theodor von Ehrmanns Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blueger ...
and Hugo Charlemont who were rare Impressionists among the more dominant Vienna Secessionist painters in Austria. * William John Leech,
Roderic O'Conor Roderic O'Conor (17 October 1860 – 18 March 1940) was an Irish painter who spent much of his later career in Paris and as part of the Pont-Aven movement. O'Conor's work demonstrates Impressionist and Post-Impressionist influence. Early life ...
, and Walter Osborne in Ireland * Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov in Russia * Francisco Oller y Cestero, a native of
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
and a friend of Pissarro and Cézanne *
James Nairn James McLauchlan Nairn (18 November 1859 – 22 February 1904) was a New Zealand painter who (along with G. P. Nerli) strongly influenced New Zealand painting in the late 19th century. He believed in en plein air or painting outdoors. Life and w ...
in New Zealand * William McTaggart in Scotland * Laura Muntz Lyall, a Canadian artist * Władysław Podkowiński, a Polish Impressionist and symbolist * Nicolae Grigorescu in Romania *
Nazmi Ziya Güran Nazmi Ziya Güran (1881 – 11 September 1937) was a Turkish Impressionist painter and art teacher. Biography He was born in Istanbul. His father was a civil servant. He attended Vefa Lisesi, Turkey's first non-military high school,Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
* Chafik Charobim in Egypt * Eliseu Visconti in Brazil * Joaquín Sorolla in Spain * Faustino Brughetti, Fernando Fader,
Candido Lopez Candido is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Candido Amantini (1914–1992), Italian Roman Catholic priest * Candido Camero known simply as "Candido" (1921-2020), Cuban percussionist * Candido Jac ...
, Martín Malharro, Walter de Navazio, Ramón Silva in Argentina *
Skagen Painters The Skagen Painters ( da, Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Skagen was a summer destination whose sc ...
a group of Scandinavian artists who painted in a small Danish fishing village * Nadežda Petrović, Milo Milunović, Kosta Miličević, Milan Milovanovi and Mališa Glišić in Serbia * Ásgrímur Jónsson in Iceland *
Fujishima Takeji was a Japanese painter, noted for his work in developing Romanticism and impressionism within the ''yōga'' (Western-style) art movement in late 19th- and early 20th-century Japanese painting. In his later years, he was influenced by the Art No ...
in Japan * Frits Thaulow in Norway and later France


Sculpture, photography and film

The sculptor Auguste Rodin is sometimes called an Impressionist for the way he used roughly modeled surfaces to suggest transient light effects.Kleiner, Fred S., and Helen Gardner (2014). ''Gardner's art through the ages: a concise Western history''. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. p. 382. . Pictorialist photographers whose work is characterized by soft focus and atmospheric effects have also been called Impressionists. French Impressionist Cinema is a term applied to a loosely defined group of films and filmmakers in France from 1919 to 1929, although these years are debatable. French Impressionist filmmakers include Abel Gance, Jean Epstein, Germaine Dulac, Marcel L’Herbier, Louis Delluc, and Dmitry Kirsanoff.


Music and literature

Musical Impressionism is the name given to a movement in
European classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" als ...
that arose in the late 19th century and continued into the middle of the 20th century. Originating in France, musical Impressionism is characterized by suggestion and atmosphere, and eschews the emotional excesses of the Romantic era. Impressionist composers favoured short forms such as the
nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensemb ...
,
arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
, and
prelude Prelude may refer to: Music *Prelude (music), a musical form *Prelude (band), an English-based folk band *Prelude Records (record label), a former New York-based dance independent record label *Chorale prelude, a short liturgical composition for ...
, and often explored uncommon scales such as the whole tone scale. Perhaps the most notable innovations of Impressionist composers were the introduction of major 7th chords and the extension of chord structures in 3rds to five- and six-part harmonies. The influence of visual Impressionism on its musical counterpart is debatable.
Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...
and
Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
are generally considered the greatest Impressionist composers, but Debussy disavowed the term, calling it the invention of critics.
Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an un ...
was also considered in this category, though his approach was regarded as less serious, more musical novelty in nature. Paul Dukas is another French composer sometimes considered an Impressionist, but his style is perhaps more closely aligned to the late Romanticists. Musical Impressionism beyond France includes the work of such composers as Ottorino Respighi (Italy),
Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
,
Cyril Scott Cyril Meir Scott (27 September 1879 – 31 December 1970) was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He created around four hundred musical compositions including piano, violin, cello concertos, symphonies, and operas. He also wrot ...
, and John Ireland (England), Manuel De Falla and Isaac Albeniz (Spain), and Charles Griffes (America). The term Impressionism has also been used to describe works of literature in which a few select details suffice to convey the sensory impressions of an incident or scene. Impressionist literature is closely related to Symbolism, with its major exemplars being Baudelaire,
Mallarmé Mallarmé is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * André Mallarmé (1877–1956), French politician * Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a Fre ...
, Rimbaud, and Verlaine. Authors such as
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born ...
,
D.H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
,
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was th ...
, and
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not sp ...
have written works that are Impressionistic in the way that they describe, rather than interpret, the impressions, sensations and emotions that constitute a character's mental life.


Post-Impressionism

During the 1880s several artists began to develop different precepts for the use of colour, pattern, form, and line, derived from the Impressionist example:
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
,
Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
, Georges Seurat, and
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the l ...
. These artists were slightly younger than the Impressionists, and their work is known as post-Impressionism. Some of the original Impressionist artists also ventured into this new territory; Camille Pissarro briefly painted in a pointillist manner, and even Monet abandoned strict ''plein air'' painting. Paul Cézanne, who participated in the first and third Impressionist exhibitions, developed a highly individual vision emphasising pictorial structure, and he is more often called a post-Impressionist. Although these cases illustrate the difficulty of assigning labels, the work of the original Impressionist painters may, by definition, be categorised as Impressionism. File:A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat, 1884.png, Georges Seurat, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', 1884–1886,
The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and list of largest art museums, largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visit ...
File:Vincent Van Gogh 0016.jpg,
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
, ''Cypresses'', 1889,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
File:Paul Gauguin 044.jpg,
Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
, ''The Midday Nap'', 1894,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
File:Card Players-Paul Cezanne.jpg, Paul Cézanne, ''
The Card Players ''The Card Players'' is a series of oil paintings by the French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Cézanne. Painted during Cézanne's final period in the early 1890s, there are five paintings in the series. The versions vary in size, the number of ...
'', 1894–1895,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...
, Paris


See also

* Art periods *
Cantonese school of painting The Lingnan School () of painting, also called the Cantonese School, is a style of painting from the Guangdong or Lingnan region of China. This school reflects a style of painting founded in the 19th century in Guangdong province by ''Two Gaos an ...
* Expressionism (as a reaction to Impressionism) * Les XX * Luminism (Impressionism) *
History of Painting The history of painting reaches back in time to artifacts and artwork created by pre-historic artists, and spans all cultures. It represents a continuous, though periodically disrupted, tradition from Antiquity. Across cultures, continents, and ...
*
Western Painting The history of Western painting represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from classical antiquity, antiquity until the present time. Until the mid-19th century it was primarily concerned with Representational art, representational ...


Notes


References

* Baumann, Felix Andreas, Marianne Karabelnik-Matta, Jean Sutherland Boggs, and Tobia Bezzola (1994). ''Degas Portraits''. London: Merrell Holberton. * Bomford, David, Jo Kirby, John Leighton, Ashok Roy, and Raymond White (1990). ''Impressionism''. London: National Gallery. * Denvir, Bernard (1990). ''The Thames and Hudson Encyclopaedia of Impressionism''. London: Thames and Hudson. * Distel, Anne, Michel Hoog, and Charles S. Moffett (1974).
Impressionism; a centenary exhibition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 12, 1974 – February 10, 1975
''. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. * Eisenman, Stephen F (2011). "From Corot to Monet: The Ecology of Impressionism". Milan: Skira. . * Gordon, Robert; Forge, Andrew (1988). ''Degas''. New York: Harry N. Abrams. * Gowing, Lawrence, with Adriani, Götz; Krumrine, Mary Louise; Lewis, Mary Tompkins;
Patin, Sylvie Sylvie Patin (born Sylvie Gache-Patin on 11 June 1951) is a French conservator-restorer of cultural heritage at Musée d'Orsay and art historian specialised in Impressionism. Career Sylvie Patin was born on 11 June 1951. She has a degree in ...
; Rewald, John (1988). ''Cézanne: The Early Years 1859–1872''. New York: Harry N. Abrams. * Jensen, Robert (1994). ''Marketing modernism in fin-de-siècle Europe''. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. . * Moskowitz, Ira; Sérullaz, Maurice (1962). ''French Impressionists: A Selection of Drawings of the French 19th Century''. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company. * Rewald, John (1973). ''The History of Impressionism'' (4th, Revised Ed.). New York: The Museum of Modern Art. * Richardson, John (1976). ''Manet'' (3rd Ed.). Oxford: Phaidon Press Ltd. * Rosenblum, Robert (1989). ''Paintings in the Musée d'Orsay''. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. * Moffett, Charles S. (1986). "The New Painting, Impressionism 1874–1886". Geneva: Richard Burton SA.


External links


Hecht Museum
*
Museumsportal Schleswig-Holstein

''Impressionism : A Centenary Exhibition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 12, 1974 – February 10, 1975''
fully digitized text from The Metropolitan Museum of Art libraries

''The Guardian'', 24 February 2007 * ''Impressionism: Paintings collected by European Museums'' (1999) was an art exhibition co-organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Denver Art Museum, touring from May through December 1999
Online guided tour

''Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism''
1978 exhibition catalogue fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which discusses Monet's role in this movement
''Degas: The Artist's Mind''
1976 exhibition catalogue fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which discusses Degas's role in this movement
Definition of impressionism on the Tate Art Glossary
{{Authority control Art movements French art Articles which contain graphical timelines