Impressionism2

Impressionism has had a vast impact on the world as it evoked the first artistic revolution since the Renaissance and enabled people to see their world with new eyes. The movement itself began in 1867 when a group of artists started painting in a style which rebelled against the tarditional French academic style of painting and the drama of Romanticism. Impressionism is a modern 19th century painting style, one which interprets the effects of light on colour in the open air and captures a moment in time with its short brush strokes. This newfound style was recieved unfavourably at first; however, its popularity soon grew across the world and is widely accepted today.

Impressionism was born in Paris, the art capital of the world at that time. If new innovative ideas were to be expressed, Paris was the place to be. On April 15th, 1874, a group of friends, later to be known as the Impressionist circle, bravely exhibited their work to the public for the first time in the studio of a Parisian photographer. These artists included Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Berthe Morisot and Eugene Boudin. These artists found it difficult to exhibit their unorthodox artwork through the casual channel of the Paris Salon. This is because their artwork was considered to be an extreme departure from the previous major art movement Romanticism. It rejected the ideals of perspective, idealized figures and chiaroscuro (the gradation from very light lights and very dark darks) (Bommer 1997). The exhibition included one of the first and most famous of Impressionist paintings called Impression: Sunrise created by Claude Monet in 1872. This painting gave the group its name. Critic Louis Leroy to ridicule the group, referred to the entire exhibition as Impressionistic in an article called Exhibition of the Impressionists. Critics looked and saw only a confusion of brushstrokes, bright colours and something that looked decidedly unfinished with no definitive subject matter (Thomson 2000). The art world of Paris in the 19th century was an incestuous society where similarly educated officials came together and regulated what would otherwise have been a far more diverse collection of accepted art.
The exhibit was shocking to individuals at the time, especially to those who were committed to the traditional style and paintings techniques of the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. With the invention of tube paint Impressionists painted outdoors choosing landscapes, street scenes and figures from everyday life. All rejected art of the Salon was placed in the Salon des Refusee. Many brilliant paintings were placed there because society could not accept their subject matter or style. An example of a highly respected painting being rejected by the Salon is Manet's Dejuner sur L'herbe 1863. It was not until critics provided positive comments that this painting finally became appreciated.

Various Impressionists developed individual styles; however as a group they benefited from their common experiments with colour. Edward Manet, sometimes called the first Impressionist, demonstrated that light could be shown in a painting be juxtaposing bright and contrasting colours, rather than shading with calmer tones. Claude Monet painted many series of subjects, each at different times during the day and during a different season. Camille Pissarro used a subdued palette and concentrated equally on the effects of light and on the structure of forms. Edgar Degas caught the fleeting moments in ballet and horseracing scenes. Pierre-Auguste Renoir preferred to paint the female form. Berth Morisot painted subtle landscapes that gained strength from brushwork rather than colour. Cezanne wished to give a sense of solidity to relationships in space, structure, weight and stability. Each Impressionist was catalyst for change, influencing each other and the society around them.

Impressionism had far-reaching effects even though the last exhibition was held in 1886,after the group broke up. French Impressionism influenced artists throughout the world, painters who began as Impressionists developed their techniques to create entirely new movements in art. The French paintings Georges Seurat and Paul Signac painted entire canvases with small dots of colours in a scientific application of the Impressionist theory known as Piontallism. The Post-Impressionists, Paul Cezanne, Henri- de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gaugin and Vincent Van Gogh were influenced by the Impressionists' brilliant use of colour. Matisse's art was nourished and replenished by the Impressionists, which lead to Fauvism, a movement known for its intense colours). Cezanne's work anticipated Cubism, a movement known for its geometric style, while that of Gauguinand Van Gogh were early stages of Expressionism. Artists throughout Europe became more individualistic and styles evolved from one to next more rapidly than ever before. This is a direct result of the movement the Impressionists created, enabling artists to rebel against the accepted style of art.
Impressionism not only transformed art, but also society. One of the changes that occurred in France was the growth of leisure pursuits. Reasons for this growth were varied and had to do with the changes brought about by the industrial age. As the countryside developed, a day trip became attractive, made possible by the easy transport of the new railways. It gave people an opportunity to picnic and stroll under the trees, to trees, to boat and bathe, to dance and drink in the open-air cafes at the many resorts. In the new fashionable Paris, whether on the boulevards, in cafes, in parks and gardens or at the races, theatre and opera, high class society in the Impressionistic era was essentially outward looking, materialistic and pleasure loving, careless with morality but followed certain rules for appearance sake. Individuals were influenced by what they saw in the Impressionist open-air paintings and subject matter of contemporary French life. As seen in Renoir's The Boating Party 1881 (seen on the left). The scene of everyday life favored by the artists may seem quite normal today, but at the time was a radical choice.