Impressionist paintings are among the most loved and celebrated artworks of all time. But what is Impressionism and who would be the artist? the great Impressionist artists. Impressionism was perhaps one of the most identifiable and famous art movements of history.
Often referred to as the first modern movement, it was born in April 1874 when a group of young artists defied the official Paris Salon by setting up their own independent exhibition, including works by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Tessaro, Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot. It became known as the first Impressionist exhibition. The Impressionist work was characterised by loosened brushwork and lightened palettes, including pure, intense colours.
They abandoned traditional linear perspective and often avoided the clarity of form. For this reason, many critics faulted Impressionist paintings for their unfinished appearance and seemingly amateurish quality. Click Effectively, the Impressionists sought to capture the impression of a scene through lively brushstrokes, and they often worked on plain air, producing works of art rapidly in a single sitting. Rejecting the Salon's preference for historical or allegorical subjects, they created instead what Monet called a spontaneous work rather than a calculated one.
In the 1870s, many of the Impressionist painters were predominantly attracted to landscape, searching for ways to capture the fleeting effects of light, weather and time of day on canvas. By the 1880s, artists looked beyond landscapes. Renoir turned towards figure painting, Monet considered visual perspective in a more abstract way through seriality and repetition, and Degas pursued female figures. Yet each retained the distinctive rapid brushstrokes, fresh colours and sense of internal light unique to Impressionism. Much like the French realists, changing Parisian life and the reality of the modern city was a recurring theme for many Impressionists, who painted café scenes, railway bridges and busy boulevards.
Although the group was dominated by men, several female artists also rose to prominence, including Morisot and Cassatt. When the first Impressionist exhibition was held in 1874, Burt Morisot joined the group and agreed never again to send work to the Salon. Morisot was a faithful exhibitor at all eight Impressionist exhibitions, from 1874 to 1886. Like the other Impressionist painters, she was preoccupied by capturing light, but she also used broad strokes of colour that echo what she had observed in Monet's work.
As the first modern art movement, Impressionism had a significant impact on subsequent artists and movements, with artists like Vincent van Gogh and Edgar Munch among those influenced. More recent influences include the important pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, who paid homage to Monet's water lily paintings. The aesthetic qualities of Impressionism can be seen widely through its ubiquitous popularity and impact on our culture today.