French Impressionists
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Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement 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 work, ''Impression, soleil levant'' (''
Impression, Sunrise ''Impression, Sunrise'' ( French: ''Impression, soleil levant'') is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the "Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring ...
''), 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 or e ...
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 subject ...
and
impressionist literature Literary Impressionism is influenced by the European Impressionist art movement, many writers adopted a style that relied on associations. The Dutch Tachtigers explicitly tried to incorporate impressionism into their prose, poems, and other literar ...
.


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 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 portraits 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''. 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 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, Post-Impressionism,
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 rebuilt Paris and waged war—the Académie des Beaux-Arts 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 and Alexandre Cabanel. In the early 1860s, four young painters— Claude Monet,
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 "R ...
, Alfred Sisley, and
Frédéric Bazille Jean Frédéric Bazille (December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter. Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted ''en plein air''. ...
—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 John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...
— 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 Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...
of Gustave Courbet and the Barbizon school. 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 Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
,
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
, and
Armand Guillaumin Armand Guillaumin (; February 16, 1841 – June 26, 1927) was a French impressionist painter and lithographer. Biography Early years Born Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin in Paris, he worked at his uncle's lingerie shop while attending eveni ...
. 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, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne,
Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...
,
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
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, 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, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of Aircraft#Heavier-than-air – aerodynes, h ...
. 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, Sunrise'' ( French: ''Impression, soleil levant'') is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the "Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring ...
'' ''(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 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 Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...
, 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, the leader of the realists Gustave Courbet, 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 Johan Barthold Jongkind (3 June 1819 – 9 February 1891) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He painted marine landscapes in a free manner and is regarded as a forerunner of Impressionism. Biography Jongkind was born in the town of Lattro ...
,
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 vast ...
and Eugène Boudin, 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 group ...
,
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 th ...
, Peter Paul Rubens,
John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...
, 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 A contrast effect is the enhancement or diminishment, relative to normal, of perception, cognition or related performance as a result of successive (immediately previous) or simultaneous exposure to a stimulus of lesser or greater value in the s ...
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'' (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 Cobalt blue is a blue pigment made by sintering cobalt(II) oxide with aluminum(III) oxide (alumina) at 1200 °C. Chemically, cobalt blue pigment is cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide, or cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl2O4. Cobalt blue is lighter ...
, 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 The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 ( MDCI), to December 31, 1700 ( MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized by the Baroque cultural moveme ...
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, 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 the ...
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 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. Japon ...
). 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 Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
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 ''The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer'' (French: ') is a sculpture begun c. 1880 by Edgar Degas of a young student of the Paris Opera Ballet dance school, a Belgian named Marie van Goethem. Description The sculpture is one-third life size and ...
''.


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 Eva Gonzalès (April 19, 1849 – May 6, 1883) was a French Impressionist painter. She was one of the four most notable female Impressionists in the nineteenth century, along with Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Berthe Morisot (1841-95), and Mar ...
, Marie Bracquemond, and
Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...
, 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 Jean Frédéric Bazille (December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter. Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted ''en plein air''. ...
(1841–1870), who only posthumously participated in the Impressionist exhibitions *
Gustave Caillebotte Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early ...
(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 Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
(1839–1906), although he later broke away from the Impressionists *
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
(1834–1917), who despised the term ''Impressionist'' *
Armand Guillaumin Armand Guillaumin (; February 16, 1841 – June 26, 1927) was a French impressionist painter and lithographer. Biography Early years Born Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin in Paris, he worked at his uncle's lingerie shop while attending eveni ...
(1841–1927) * Édouard Manet (1832–1883), who did not participate in any of the Impressionist exhibitions * Claude Monet (1840–1926), the most prolific of the Impressionists and the one who embodies their aesthetic most obviously *
Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...
(1841–1895) who participated in all Impressionist exhibitions except in 1879 *
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
(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 "R ...
(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 Jean Frédéric Bazille (December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter. Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted ''en plein air''. ...
, ''Paysage au bord du Lez'', 1870, Minneapolis Institute of Art File:Sisley-Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne.jpg, Alfred Sisley, ''Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne'', 1872, Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Berthe Morisot, Le berceau (The Cradle), 1872.jpg,
Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...
, '' 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 art ...
File:Guillaumin SoleilCouchantAIvry.jpg,
Armand Guillaumin Armand Guillaumin (; February 16, 1841 – June 26, 1927) was a French impressionist painter and lithographer. Biography Early years Born Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin in Paris, he worked at his uncle's lingerie shop while attending eveni ...
, ''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 art ...
File:Edouard Manet Boating.jpg, Édouard Manet, ''Boating'', 1874, Metropolitan Museum of Art 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 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 char ...
, 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, ''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 Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
, ''After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself'', c. 1884–1886 (reworked between 1890 and 1900), MuMa, Le Havre File:Edgar Degas - In a Café - Google Art Project 2.jpg,
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
, ''
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 art ...
, Paris File:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 069.jpg,
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
, ''Dancer Taking a Bow (The Prima Ballerina)'', 1878,
Getty Center The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997 and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views over ...
, Los Angeles File:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 032.jpg,
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
, ''Woman in the Bath'', 1886, Hill–Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut File:Edgar Degas - Dancers at the Barre - Google Art Project.jpg,
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
, ''Dancers at The Bar'', 1888, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. File:Gustave Caillebotte - Paris Street; Rainy Day - Google Art Project.jpg,
Gustave Caillebotte Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early ...
, ''
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 Pla ...
'', 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 mill ...
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 "R ...
, ''
La Parisienne LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
'', 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 "R ...
, '' 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 "R ...
, ''
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 Sis ...
'', 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 mill ...
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 "R ...
, ''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 Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
, ''Washerwoman, Study'', 1880. Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Camille Pissarro - Conversation - Google Art Project.jpg,
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
, ''Conversation'', c. 1881. National Museum of Western Art File:Claude Monet The Cliffs at Etretat.jpg, Claude Monet, ''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 mill ...
File:Brooklyn Museum - Portrait of Mme Boursier and Her Daughter (Portrait de Mme Boursier et de sa fille) - Berthe Morisot.jpg,
Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...
, ''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 H ...
File:Claude Monet, Le Grand Canal.jpg, Claude Monet, ''
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 Jean-Louis Forain (23 October 1852 – 11 July 1931) was a French Impressionist painter and printmaker, working in media including oils, watercolour, pastel, etching and lithograph. Compared to many of his Impressionist colleagues, he was mo ...
(who participated in Impressionist exhibitions in 1879, 1880, 1881 and 1886) and
Giuseppe De Nittis Giuseppe De Nittis (February 25, 1846 – August 21, 1884)Efrem Gisella Calingaert. "De Nittis, Giuseppe." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 9 Aug. 2013. was one of the most important Italian painters of the 19th c ...
, 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 Eva Gonzalès (April 19, 1849 – May 6, 1883) was a French Impressionist painter. She was one of the four most notable female Impressionists in the nineteenth century, along with Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Berthe Morisot (1841-95), and Mar ...
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 Wynford Dewhurst RBA (26 January 1864 – 9 July 1941) was an English Impressionist painter and notable art theorist. He spent considerable time in France and his work was profoundly influenced by Claude Monet. Biography 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 t ...
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 American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose b ...
, 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 Willard Leroy Metcalf (July 1, 1858March 9, 1925) was an American painter born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and later attended Académie Julian, Paris. After early figure-painting and ill ...
,
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, Smithsonian ...
, 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 so ...
, Charles Conder and Frederick McCubbin (who were prominent members of the Heidelberg School), and John Russell, a friend of Van Gogh, Rodin, Monet and Matisse. * The Amsterdam Impressionists in the Netherlands, including George Hendrik Breitner,
Isaac Israëls Isaac Lazarus Israëls (3 February 1865 – 7 October 1934) was a Dutch painter associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement. Biography The son of Jozef Israëls, one of the most respected painters of the Hague School, and Aleida ...
,
Willem Bastiaan Tholen Willem Bastiaan Tholen (Amsterdam, 13 February 1860 – The Hague, 5 December 1931) was a Dutch painter, draftsman and printmaker with some connections to members of the Hague School and later associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement. ...
, Willem de Zwart,
Willem Witsen Willem Witsen (13 August 1860, Amsterdam - 13 April 1923, Amsterdam) was a Dutch painter and photographer associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement. Witsen's work, influenced by James McNeill Whistler, often portrayed calm urban lands ...
and
Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' TooropJan Toorop
California Impressionists, including
William Wendt William Wendt (February 20, 1865, Bentzen, Kingdom of Prussia – December 29, 1946, Laguna Beach) was a German-born American landscape painter. He was called the "Dean of Southern California landscape painters." *Bronze Medal, Buffalo Expositi ...
,
Guy Rose Guy Orlando Rose (3 March 1867 – 17 November 1925) was an American Impressionist painter and California resident, who received national recognition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life and education Guy Orlando Rose was b ...
, 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 Belgian painter, born in Saint-Vaast, Hainaut. Anna Boch died in Ixelles in 1936 and is interred there in the Ixelles Cemetery, Brussels, Belgium. Artistic style Boch partici ...
, Vincent van Gogh's friend Eugène Boch, Georges Lemmen and Théo van Rysselberghe, Impressionist painters from Belgium. *
Ivan Grohar Ivan Grohar (15 June 1867 – 19 April 1911) was a Slovene Impressionist painter. Together with Rihard Jakopič, Matej Sternen, and Matija Jama, he is considered one of the leading figures of Slovene impressionism in the fin de siecle ...
, 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 Anton Ažbe (30 May 1862 – 5 or 6 August 1905) was a Slovene realist painter and teacher of painting. Ažbe, crippled since birth and orphaned at the age of 8, learned painting as an apprentice to Janez Wolf and at the Academies in Vienna and ...
in Munich and they were influenced by Jurij Šubic and
Ivana Kobilca Ivana Kobilca (20 December 1861 – 4 December 1926) is the most prominent Slovenes, Slovene female Painting, painter and a key figure of Slovene cultural identity. She was a Realism (arts), realist painter who studied and worked in Vienna, Munich ...
, Slovenian painters working in Paris. *
Wynford Dewhurst Wynford Dewhurst RBA (26 January 1864 – 9 July 1941) was an English Impressionist painter and notable art theorist. He spent considerable time in France and his work was profoundly influenced by Claude Monet. Biography 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 Philip Wilson Steer (28 December 1860 – 18 March 1942) was a British painter of landscapes, seascapes plus portraits and figure studies. He was also an influential art teacher. His sea and landscape paintings made him a leading figure in ...
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 Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...
, 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 Hugo Charlemont (18 March 1850 – 18 April 1939) was an Austrian painter. Born in Jemnice, Moriva he was the son of Matthais Adolf Charlemont. He studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts. He died in Vienna. Life Charlemont was born in Jemnice, M ...
who were rare Impressionists among the more dominant
Vienna Secessionist The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austr ...
painters in Austria. *
William John Leech William John Leech (10 April 1881 – 16 July 1968) was an Irish painter. Biography Leech was born in Dublin the son of Anne Louisa née Garbois (1847–1921) and Professor Henry Brougham Leech LLD (1843–1921). He went to school at St Colum ...
,
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 lif ...
, and Walter Osborne in Ireland * Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov in Russia * Francisco Oller y Cestero, a native of Puerto Rico 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 William McTaggart (25 October 1835 – 2 April 1910) was a Scottish landscape and marine painter who was influenced by Impressionism. Life and work The son of a crofter, William McTaggart was born in the small village of Aros, near Camp ...
in Scotland *
Laura Muntz Lyall Laura Muntz Lyall (June 18, 1860 – December 9, 1930) was a Canadian Impressionist painter, known for her sympathetic portrayal of women and children. Life and work Laura Adeline Muntz was born at Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Engla ...
, a Canadian artist *
Władysław Podkowiński Władysław Podkowiński (; February 4, 1866  – January 5, 1895) was a Polish master painter and illustrator associated with the Young Poland movement during the Partition period. Career Podkowiński was born in Warsaw and began his artist ...
, a Polish Impressionist and
symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...
* Nicolae Grigorescu in Romania * Nazmi Ziya Güran, who brought Impressionism to Turkey *
Chafik Charobim Chafik Charobim (November 4, 1894 in Cairo – 1975), is a well known impressionist and naturalist Egyptian artist who painted the "Peaceful and Tranquil Egypt of the last Century He loved nature in any form and his paintings show a great love f ...
in Egypt * Eliseu Visconti in Brazil * Joaquín Sorolla in Spain * Faustino Brughetti,
Fernando Fader Fernando Fader (11 April 1882 – 25 February 1935) was a French-born Argentine painter of the Post-impressionist school. Life and work Fernando Fader was born in Bordeaux, France in 1882. His father, of Prussian descent, relocated the fami ...
,
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 Martín Malharro (1865–1911) was an Argentine painter that introduced Impressionism in the country in the early 20th century. Life and work Martín Malharro was born in the central Buenos Aires Province city of Azul in 1865. His childhood in ...
, Walter de Navazio,
Ramón Silva Ramón Silva (August 8, 1890 - June 17, 1919) was an Argentine painter of the Post-impressionist school. Life and work Ramón Silva was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1890. A self-taught painter, he learned the art beginning 1908 at the ate ...
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 scen ...
a group of Scandinavian artists who painted in a small Danish fishing village *
Nadežda Petrović Nadežda Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Надежда Петровић; 11/12 October 1873 – 3 April 1915) was a Serbian painter and one of the women war photography pioneers in the region. Considered Serbia's most famous expressionist and fauvist, ...
,
Milo Milunović Milo Milunović (6 August 1897 in Cetinje, Principality of Montenegro – 11 February 1967 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFRY) was a distinguished Yugoslav and Montenegrin painter. He dabbled in both Impressionism and Cubism. Biography Milunović ...
, Kosta Miličević, Milan Milovanovi and Mališa Glišić in Serbia * Ásgrímur Jónsson in Iceland *
Fujishima Takeji was a Japanese people, Japanese painter, noted for his work in developing Romanticism and impressionism within the ''yoga (art), yōga'' (Western-style) art movement in late 19th- and early 20th-century Japanese painting. In his later years, he ...
in Japan *
Frits Thaulow Frits Thaulow (20 October 1847 – 5 November 1906) was a Norwegian Impressionist painter, best known for his naturalistic depictions of landscape. Biography Johan Frederik Thaulow was born in Christiania, the son of a wealthy chemist, Haral ...
in Norway and later France


Sculpture, photography and film

The sculptor
Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
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 Abel Gance (; born Abel Eugène Alexandre Péréthon; 25 October 188910 November 1981) was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: ''J ...
,
Jean Epstein Jean Epstein (; 25 March 1897 – 2 April 1953) was a French filmmaker, film theorist, literary critic, and novelist. Although he is remembered today primarily for his adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's ''The Fall of the House of Usher'', he directe ...
, 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" also ...
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, arabesque, 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 Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
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 und ...
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 Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. List of compositions by Ottorino Respighi, His compositions r ...
(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 Charles Tomlinson Griffes ( ; September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and voice. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German style, his late ...
(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 Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...
,
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,
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, and
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...
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, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. 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 Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...
briefly painted in a
pointillist Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" wa ...
manner, and even Monet abandoned strict ''plein air'' painting.
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
, 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 ''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'' (french: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat's most famous work. A leading example of pointillist technique, executed o ...
'', 1884–1886,
The 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 mill ...
File:Vincent Van Gogh 0016.jpg, Vincent van Gogh, ''Cypresses'', 1889, Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Paul Gauguin 044.jpg, Paul Gauguin, ''The Midday Nap'', 1894, Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Card Players-Paul Cezanne.jpg,
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
, ''
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 art ...
, 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 Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
(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


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