Impressionism emerged in the late 19th century among Paris-based artists including Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, and Auguste Renoir. The movement took its name from Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise (1872). Artists were influenced by Eugene Delacroix's expressive brushstrokes and study of color optics. Impressionism focused on depicting light and color in landscapes and modern life scenes through loose brushwork. It helped transition art from realism to new movements like Post-Impressionism, where artists like Paul Cezanne and Vincent Van Gogh experimented further with color, form, and perspective.