Monet's Impression:  Sunrise

What is Impressionism?
The Artists and the Movement
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What is Impressionism?

Many people ask me about Impressionism. Some are still convinced that all artists, despite the time period or style, are Impressionists if they use a muted color palette of pink, light blue, and light green. Perhaps, I can offer some clarification with a short definition of Impressionism. 

Many artists do work in a style that is reminiscent of the brushwork of the French artists active in the 19th century known as the Impressionists. While Impressionism had a great impact on the artists working in other countries, particularly in the United States, the art movement known as Impressionism is a traditionally French art movement based on the law of optics. 

The Artists and the Movement

The more famous members of the movement (Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, and Sargent) worked at the small artist colony of Argenteuil, France in the early years of the 1870s. The association of the word Impressionism has an interesting story.  A painting of a sunrise was in the salon in 1872 and an art critic who was reviewing the exhibition saw the piece and commented, "This painting isn't finished, it looks like an impression". Later, the painting would become the characteristic example of French Impressionism titled, Impression: Sunrise by Claude Monet (see image at left). The comment gave rise to the title for the famous movement Impressionism.

The movements famous figures included Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Edouard Manet (late in his career), Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, and the expatriates, John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt. These artists were interested in subject matter that related to the rise of the factory society as brought on by the Industrial Revolution, the imagery of the city, the steam locomotive, as well as vacation sites, beaches, and the beauty of the countryside. The Impressionists were interested in the law of optics and in optical realism as they produced works of art that captured various images depending on the distance from the work of art and the associated color theory. Impressionism was influenced by the rise of photography in the late 19th century and by Japanese printmaking and decorative arts of the Orient known as Japonisme. 

Impressionism may be characterized by a quick brushstroke and a thick application of paint as seen in many paintings in the style. Many artists and collectors are still intrigued by the popular art movement and many artists prefer the style and produce works of art today in the style or derivations of the Impressionist style. The quality of those pieces is varied but, one fact is for sure, the original Impressionist artists were French and quite influential. 

Dr. Lori
Director, Masterpiece Technologies Inc.

Please feel free to contact me with questions and additional lecture information.