IMPRESSIONISM

Impressionism is an art movement developed in the 2 nd half of the 19th century, mainly in France.

The word “Impressionism” comes from Monet’s painting,

“Impression, Sunrise”. The critic Louis Leroy used for the first
time this word in 1874. He used it in a pejorative way to refer to
the paintings of group of artists in Paris, whose independent
exhibitions opposed to
Impression, Sunrise (1872) by Claude Monet conventional art in
France. 

The impressionist style is characterized capturing the general impression produced by a scene or
object and the use of unmixed primary colours and small strokes to simulate actual reflected light.

Impressionist artists felt the new technology of photography was ruining the art of painting. They
felt the need to create a new style of painting in which accurate rendering of the subject was not the
focus. Th Impressionists changed the approach to painting, by recreating the sensation in the eye
that views the subject, rather than recreating the subject. However, art critics disapproved their
painting calling them unfinished sketches.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS

 Landscapes and scenes of daily leisurely activities: Impressionists usually represented the
contact with nature and light.
 Loose brushstrokes: they used to quickly capture the essence of the subject, rather than its
details
 Pastel colours (with blues and violets replacing blacks and browns): they used colors with as
little as pigment mixing as possible to allow the eye of the viewer to optically mix the colors
 Lack of a structured composition
 Natural lighting: How light effected the subject was one of the major concerns of
Impressionists. They paid close attention to the reflection of colors from object to object
 Main themes: portraits, landscapes, urban life scenes, an optimistic vision of the world,
society and they usually painted the life in Paris.
 They usually painted in “PLEIN AIR” meaning in open air. 

KEY ARTISTS

CLAUDE MONET

- Main subjects were nature and landscapes - en plein air

- Painted same scenes day after day to capture changing of light, weather, atmosphere and
the changing of seasons
Woman in a Garden, 1867,
Hermitage, St. Petersburg;

It show the effect of sunlight

and shadow on color
PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR Water Lilies, 1919, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

In characteristic Impressionist style, Renoir suggested the details of a scene through freely brushed
touches of color, so that his figures softly fuse with one another and their surroundings.

• vibrant light
• saturated color, claimed to mix his own black paint!
• most often focused on people in intimate and candid compositions.
• Females were his primary subjects.
• Suffered from arthritis badly - he continued to paint with brushes tied to his wrists.
Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881)

I really like the way in

which Renoir has
beautifully captured the
girls’ facial expression and
their youthful complexion.

EDGAR DEGAS

• Focus on human figure and movement:

he painted scenes of dancers and horse races.
1876, Le Moulin de la Galette, oil on canvas
• Showed emotional tension
• Fascination with photography - he captured ‘snapshots’
• Often used pastels
• Went blind and became a sculptor

Dance Class at the Opéra, 1872

The Star, 1878