The Impressionist movement began in the 1870s as artists rebelled against rigid academic painting standards. They started independent exhibitions to show their unfinished, spontaneous works which emphasized capturing fleeting moments and effects of light. Art critic Louis Leroy coined the term "Impressionism" after Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise. Key Impressionist techniques included painting outdoors, using loose brushstrokes and bright colors, and focusing on modern life subjects. Famous Impressionists like Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro and Sisley developed these techniques to depict the optical effects of light and convey changing atmospheres. Their work marked a shift to a more modern style of painting.
2. Impressionism can be
considered the first
distinctly modern
movement in painting
A New Movement
rebel artists of the 1870s refused
to conform to the rigid academic
standards of painting
their work was not accepted at
Paris' sole art exhibition, the
Salon
so, they struck out on their own
and started a new movement in
the art world
3. Art critic Louis
Leroy came up with
the name
'Impressionist'
critiquing the 1874
exhibit, he remarked
that the artists'
paintings looked
unfinished, like they
were just sketches or
impressions rather
than completed
works of art
A New Movement A New Name
4. A New Movement A New Name
Claude Monet,
Impression, soleil levant
(Impression, Sunrise),
1872, oil on canvas,
Musée Marmottan
Monet, Paris
This painting became
the source of the
movement's name, after
Louis Leroy's article The
Exhibition of the
Impressionists declared
that the painting was at
most, a sketch
6. Impressionism
CHARACTERISTICS
representation of
light and its
reflection
the realistic depiction of
light; Impressionist
artists sought to
capture fleeting
moments
Monet, Impression, Sunrise , 1873
The Impressionists
sought to capture
the former - the
optical effects of
light - to convey the
passage of time,
changes in
weather, and other
shifts in the
atmosphere in their
canvases
7. Impressionism
CHARACTERISTICS
use of color
separating colors
and letting the
eye's perception
mix them
the realistic depiction of
light; Impressionist
artists sought to
capture fleeting
moments
Renoir, The Skiff (La Yole), 1875
he places an orange
boat against cobalt
blue water. Orange
and blue were
understood to be
opposite one another
in the colour
spectrum, and by
placing them next to
each other, each
looked deeper and
brighter.
9. Impressionism
CHARACTERISTICS
modern life as
the subject
matter
Degas, The Beach Scene, 1869
Modern life and the way that
ordinary people spent their free
time were popular subjects with
many Impressionist painters
10. FAMOUS IMPRESSIONIST
was a founder of French Impressionist
painting, and the most consistent and prolific
practitioner of the movement's philosophy of
expressing one's perceptions before nature,
especially as applied to plein-air landscape
painting
The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title
of his painting Impression, soleil levant
(Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874
in the first of the independent exhibitions mounted
by Monet and his associates as an alternative to
the Salon de Paris
Oscar-Claude Monet
11. MASTERPIECE
This painting raised a storm of
criticism and gave its name to
the movement. The
Impressionism was born.
Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1873
12. MASTERPIECE
This work was in the collection of the
Havemeyers, who considered Monet the
greatest impressionist landscape painter.
At the turn of the century, Monet became the
most popular impressionist painter in the
United States
Claude Monet ,The Waterlily Pond, 1897
13. MASTERPIECE
This woman with an umbrella painted
against the light is Camille, Monet's wife,
and their son Jean
Claude Monet ,The Walk, Woman with a Parasol, 1875
15. FAMOUS IMPRESSIONIST
a French artist who was a leading painter in
the development of the Impressionist style
Renoir's work seems always to be about pleasurable
occasions, and reveals no great seriousness in his
subjects.
He is a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine
sensuality
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
16. MASTERPIECE
remains the best known and
most popular work of art at
The Phillips Collection
The painting captures an idyllic
atmosphere as Renoir's friends
share food, wine, and
conversation on a balcony
overlooking the Seine at the
Maison Fournaise restaurant in
Chatou
Renoir,Luncheon of
the Boating Party,
1880-81
17. MASTERPIECE
It has been described as "one of
the museum's most beloved
works“
The work depicts two of Renoir's
friends, Suzanne Valadon and Paul
Auguste Llhote
Renoir ,Dance at Bougival, 1883
18. MASTERPIECE
Like other works of Renoir's early
maturity, Bal du moulin de la Galette is a
typically Impressionist snapshot of real life. It
shows a richness of form, a fluidity of brush
stroke, and a flickering light
The painting depicts a typical Sunday afternoon
at Moulin de la Galette in the district of
Montmartre in Paris. Working class Parisians would
dress up and spend time there dancing, drinking,
and eating galettes into the evening
Renoir, Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876
(Dance at Le moulin de la Galette)
20. FAMOUS IMPRESSIONIST
He is especially identified with the subject of
dance; more than half of his works depict
dancers. He is regarded as one of the founders
of Impressionism, although he rejected the term,
preferring to be called a realist
His portraits are notable for their psychological
complexity and for their portrayal of human isolation
Edgar Degas
24. FAMOUS IMPRESSIONIST
Pissarro is the only artist to have shown his
work at all eight Paris Impressionist
exhibitions, from 1874 to 1886. He "acted
as a father figure not only to the
Impressionists" but to all four of the major
Post-Impressionists, including Georges
Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van
Gogh and Paul Gauguin.
Camille Pissarro
27. FAMOUS IMPRESSIONIST
He was the most consistent of the
Impressionists in his dedication to
painting landscape en plein air (i.e.,
outdoors)
an English Impressionist landscape painter who
was born and spent most of his life in France
Alfred Sisley
30. FAMOUS IMPRESSIONIST
Many of Bazille's major works are
examples of figure painting in which Bazille
placed the subject figure within a landscape
painted en plein air
Jean Frédéric Bazille
33. The Impressionists aimed to capture
the momentary, sensory effect of a
scene - the impression objects
made on the eye in a fleeting
instant.
To achieve this effect, many
Impressionist artists moved from the
studio to the streets and
countryside, painting en plein air.
Impressionism
Techniques
- They tended toward
bright, pure colors that
seemed to jump off the
canvas in their boldness
and strike the viewer with
their intensity
- used short, quick
brushstrokes that touched
colors to the canvas in little
comma-like shapes one
after another
- sometimes, they didn't
bother to use a brush at
all, applying paint to the
canvas directly from the
tube