Emerging in 1860s France, Impressionism revolutionized painting by capturing the fleeting effects of light and color. Impressionists rejected realism and academic conventions to develop a new style focusing on transient visual impressions. In this article, we will talk about the main features of Realism.
Impressionism in Art: Capturing Light and Movement
Impressionism was an artistic movement that emerged in France in the late 19th century. It challenged traditional painting methods and styles with a new approach to depicting light and color. The Impressionists aimed to capture the subjective visual impression of a moment and scene rather than create lifelike or realistic depictions. They painted spontaneously outdoors, experimenting with vivid colors, distinct brushstrokes, and unusual visual angles and cropping.
Impressionist artists like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas often focused on the effects of light and sought to reproduce it using rapid, unblended brushstrokes of pure color that were not mixed on the palette. Their sketch-like paintings shimmered and seemed suffused with light. While controversial at first, Impressionism overturned rigid academic rules and classical subject matter to create a modern, ephemeral portrait of life through a personal perception of nature, color, and light. It paved the way for subsequent movements from Post-Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism.
Claude Monet. La Grenouillére 1869
Impressionism Artists
Claude Monet’s spontaneous, animated brushwork and studies of light phenomena solidified Impressionist vision. Pierre-Auguste Renoir employed feathery strokes and luminous palettes to impart joy and sensuality. Camille Pissarro adopted scientific color theories and Pointillist techniques. Alfred Sisley focused on landscapes’ shifting light effects. Berthe Morisot conveyed fleeting impressions of bourgeois feminine life.
Claude Monet. Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), 1872
Edgar Degas captured psychology and movement in portraits and dancers. Impressionism was influenced by Realism’s everyday subjects, Romanticism’s intensity, the Barbizon school’s naturalism, and Japonism’s compositional approaches. However, impressionists emphasized newly objective, scientific observations over symbolism or moralism to capture nature’s ephemeral beauty.
Although they exhibited together, each painter had their own distinctive style and subjects they explored. Monet sought to capture ephemeral light and color, often painting the same scene repeatedly under different conditions. Renoir focused on dappled light filtering through foliage and brightly lit Parisian leisure activities. Morisot tenderly depicted women and children in domestic life. Degas observed the ballet and races, portraying fleeting moments through unusual, asymmetrical compositions. Pissarro and Sisley recorded the atmosphere and light of landscapes using feverish brushwork. Other notable Impressionists include:
Mary Cassatt: An American expatriate, she portrayed quiet, sensitive scenes of mothers and children.
Armand Guillaumin: His color-rich landscapes used short brushstrokes and thick paint.
Gustave Caillebotte: A Realist-influenced Impressionist, he painted urbane vistas of Paris streets and interiors.
Frédéric Bazille: His striking figure paintings applied loose brushwork to nontraditional subjects like peasants.
Eugène Boudin: A forerunner of Impressionism, Boudin captured the mood of beaches and harbors in soft, atmospheric paintings.
Édouard Manet: Although not exhibited with the Impressionists, Manet pioneered modern subject matter and influenced the group.
Alfred Sisley. Molesey Weir – Morning, one of the paintings executed by Sisley on his visit to Britain in 1874
French Impressionism Techniques
Impressionists implemented plein-air painting, loose brushwork, and high-keyed palettes to capture transient light effects. Short, thick, visible strokes dissolved into vibrant dots and dashes of unblended color. Compositions focused on overall visual impressions rather than details. Figures lacked outlines and blended into environments of shimmering color. Empty canvas revealed helped convey luminosity. Loosened, asymmetrical compositions created snapshot-like cropping and viewpoints. By focusing on the changing qualities of light and color, impressionists imparted fresh vitality to painting.
Impressionist painters developed innovative techniques to capture the subjective visual experience of light and color. They painted en plein air, setting up easels outdoors to observe scenes in natural light. Their canvases were portable and could be completed quickly. Impressionists experimented with broken colors, applying unblended strokes of pure color rather than mixing on the palette. Up close, their paintings seemed roughly painted, but at a distance, the colors visually blended to a shimmering effect. Impressionists avoided hard contours, painting wet-on-wet to soften edges. They captured changes in light and atmosphere by repeatedly painting the same view. Signature techniques of Impressionism include:
Short, visible brushstrokes: Applying paint rapidly using loose, broken strokes that layered unmixed colors.
Bright, pure colors: Using vivid hues with minimal shading rather than subdued, mixed tones. Complementary colors were juxtaposed.
Open composition: Cropping objects and figures using unusual viewpoints rather than traditional compositions.
Everyday subjects: Depicting middle-class leisure activities, gardens, cityscapes, and domestic life rather than historical or religious themes.
Asymmetrical compositions: Portraying figures and objects off-center or viewed at odd angles to convey spontaneity.
Expressive handling of perspective: Manipulating perspective for artistic effect rather than proper proportion, often using high viewpoints.
Capturing changing light: Repeatedly painting the same scene at different times of day to convey light and atmosphere.
Painting outdoors: Bringing easels and portable materials into nature to paint scenes exactly as observed without studio idealization.
J. M. W. Turner's atmospheric work was influential on the birth of Impressionism, here The Fighting Temeraire (1839)
Impressionism Art Movement Legacy
By overthrowing academic conventions, Impressionism paved the way for modern art. It profoundly shaped avant-garde movements like Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism. Vincent van Gogh intensified color and brushwork into expressionism. Paul Cézanne developed geometric order and structure. Georges Seurat’s Pointillism refined optical color mixing.
Henri Matisse and André Derain used vivid, expressive Fauvist palettes. Pablo Picasso’s Cubism further deconstructed form and space. Contemporary art continues leveraging Impressionist innovations, from expressionist abstraction to pop art’s detached realism. Its legacy permanently expanded notions about artistic freedom and creativity.
From its origins in 1860s Parisian painting, Impressionism transformed aesthetics and perception in art. Its impact continues shaping visual expression and culture worldwide. Impressionism’s fresh vision endures as a pinnacle of creativity and artistic innovation.
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