Leo Martínez
Impressionism emerged in France in the 19th century as artists sought to capture the fleeting moments of sunlight, labourers at work, and leisurely moments of Parisians. The movement was pioneered by a group of Paris-based artists, including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro, who organised an exhibition in 1874, independent of the official annual Salon. Impressionism is characterised by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on the accurate depiction of light, and the use of pure, unblended colours. The style was a departure from the traditional academic painting of the time, which was dominated by the Académie des Beaux-Arts and its preference for historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits. Impressionist painters instead chose landscapes and scenes of everyday life as their subjects, embracing a new sense of freedom and spontaneity in their work.
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What You'll Learn
Impressionism's new style of painting was characterised by visible brush strokes
Impressionism emerged in France in the 19th century as a new style of painting. It was pioneered by a group of Paris-based artists who held independent exhibitions during the 1870s and 1880s. The Impressionists, as they came to be known, faced harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France, particularly the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which favoured traditional styles and subjects.
The Impressionists' new style of painting was characterised by visible brush strokes, a technique that gave the impression of spontaneity and effortlessness. This was achieved through short, thick strokes of paint that captured the essence of the subject rather than its details. The brushwork was rapid and broken into separate dabs to capture the fleeting quality of light and the transient effects of sunlight. Artists like Monet used loose, visible brushstrokes and blended colour palettes to depict subtle tonal effects.
The Impressionists often painted outdoors, or 'en plein air', to capture the momentary effects of sunlight. They portrayed overall visual effects instead of details, using short "broken" brush strokes of mixed and pure unmixed colour, which were not smoothly blended or shaded as was customary. This created an effect of intense colour vibration. The Impressionists were influenced by the work of artists who painted from nature in a direct and spontaneous style, such as Johan Barthold Jongkind, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Eugène Boudin.
The use of visible brush strokes was part of the Impressionists' rejection of traditional painting techniques and their desire to express their subjective perceptions of nature. They sought to recreate the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than delineating the details of the subject. This approach, combined with their use of bright and varied colours, shocked contemporary viewers accustomed to the more sombre colours of academic painting.
The Impressionists' style, with its loose, spontaneous brushstrokes, became synonymous with modern life. Their work depicted scenes of modern urban and rural life, often through "'snapshot' angles and unconventional compositions. The visible brush strokes and bright colours of Impressionist paintings reflected the movement's rebellious spirit and independence from established styles.
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The movement's painters used bright and varied colours
Impressionism emerged in France in the 19th century as a new art movement. It was characterised by a focus on the accurate depiction of light and its changing qualities, ordinary subject matter, and movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience. The Impressionists developed new techniques, encompassing what its adherents argued was a different way of seeing, through immediacy and movement, candid poses and compositions, and the play of light expressed in a bright and varied use of colour.
The Impressionist painters used pure, unblended colours, and their works often featured short, broken brushstrokes that barely conveyed forms. They emphasised the effects of light and colour, rendering shadows and highlights in colour rather than neutral white, grey, or black. This use of bright and varied colours was made possible by the development of synthetic pigments in the 19th century, which provided vibrant shades of blue, green, and yellow that painters had never used before. Many Impressionist artists chose not to apply the traditional golden varnish that would tone down their works, instead embracing the vividness of the new paints.
The movement's painters used colour to create a sense of luminosity and light in their works, with artists such as Alfred Sisley, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas known for their use of colour to create a sense of light and movement. The Impressionists also reinvented old pigments, deploying fresh hues alongside ancient ones, with pigments ranging from prehistoric bone black to modern cobalt violet and chrome orange.
The use of bright and varied colours by the Impressionists was initially shocking to viewers accustomed to the more subdued colours of academic painting. However, the public gradually came to appreciate the fresh and original vision of the Impressionists, even as art critics and the art establishment continued to disapprove of the new style.
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They painted en plein air, or outdoors
Impressionism emerged in France in the 19th century. It was characterised by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depictions of light and its changing qualities, ordinary subject matter, and movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience.
The Impressionists' plein-air technique involved painting outdoors and spontaneously 'on the spot' rather than in a studio from sketches. This allowed them to capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight, as well as the shifting patterns of the natural scene. They would set up their easels in fields or by riverbanks, attempting to capture fleeting moments of sunlight reflected by the water, labourers at work, or Parisians enjoying a leisurely Sunday by the seaside.
The Impressionists' loose brushwork gave an effect of spontaneity and effortlessness, often masking carefully constructed compositions. Their use of bright colours was shocking to eyes accustomed to the more sober colours of academic painting. They rejected the use of the traditional golden varnish that painters used to tone down their works, and their paints themselves were more vivid.
The development of synthetic pigments in the 19th century provided vibrant shades of blue, green, and yellow that painters had never used before. The Impressionists' interest in capturing light and colour in the landscape was influenced by painters such as Johan Barthold Jongkind, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Eugène Boudin, who painted from nature in a direct and spontaneous style.
The Impressionists' plein-air technique was also influenced by the work of British painter John Constable, who, in the early 19th century, pioneered the process of painting on the spot in order to depict nature in a realistic way.
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Impressionist paintings were spontaneous and casual
The Impressionists' manner of painting made bold use of vivid synthetic pigments, such as cobalt blue, viridian, cadmium yellow, and synthetic ultramarine blue. The introduction of premixed paints in tin tubes allowed artists to work more spontaneously, both outdoors and indoors. Previously, painters made their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil, which were then stored in animal bladders.
The Impressionists were influenced by painters who worked from nature in a direct and spontaneous style, such as Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, Théodore Rousseau, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Eugène Boudin. These artists prefigured Impressionism with their loose, spontaneous brushstrokes, capturing the moment of perception.
The Impressionists' style, with its loose, spontaneous brushstrokes, became synonymous with modern life. Their work is recognised for its modernity, rejecting established styles and incorporating new technology and ideas. They were interested in painting everyday reality instead of monumental scenes, redefining what it meant to capture reality.
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The style was a rejection of academic conventions
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that emerged in France as a rejection of the rigid conventions of academic painting. The Impressionists, including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro, sought to break free from the dominance of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and its traditional standards of content and style. The Académie favoured historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits, while landscapes and still life were not valued. Impressionists, on the other hand, focused on landscapes, scenes of everyday life, and modern situations. They captured the fleeting effects of light and colour in nature, using short, broad brushstrokes that conveyed the general idea rather than the finer details. This spontaneous style, often painted en plein air, gave their work an effect of immediacy and movement.
The Impressionists' rejection of academic conventions extended beyond subject matter and style. They also challenged the established exhibition systems, such as the official Salon, where artworks were selected by a jury from the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 1874, the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers, etc., organised an independent exhibition in Paris, launching the Impressionist movement. Despite facing harsh opposition from the traditional art community, the Impressionists persisted in their rebellion against the academic norms of the time.
The Impressionists' loose and spontaneous brushwork gave their paintings a sense of effortlessness, even though the compositions were often carefully constructed. This style was a departure from the precise and carefully blended brushstrokes of academic painting, which aimed to create realistic images that concealed the artist's hand. The Impressionists, in contrast, embraced the visible brushwork, showcasing their technique and capturing the play of light and colour. Their use of bright and varied colours, made possible by the development of synthetic pigments, shocked those accustomed to the more subdued palette of academic painting.
The Impressionists' rejection of academic conventions extended to their treatment of form and composition. Traditional formal compositions were abandoned in favour of a more casual and less contrived arrangement of objects within the picture frame. This approach contributed to the sense of movement and spontaneity in their work. The Impressionists also explored unusual visual angles and open compositions, further emphasising the importance of capturing the momentary and transient effects of light and colour in their surroundings.
The Impressionist movement, with its diverse group of artists, was unified by its spirit of independence and rebellion. They challenged the established norms of academic painting, from subject matter and style to the exhibition systems of the time. By embracing new techniques and a different way of seeing, the Impressionists created a fresh and original vision that revolutionised the art world, despite initial criticism and opposition. Their rejection of academic conventions paved the way for a more modern and innovative approach to art.
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Frequently asked questions
Impressionist paintings are characterised by visible, loose, and spontaneous brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on the accurate depiction of light and its changing qualities, ordinary subject matter, and the inclusion of movement.
Impressionism emerged in France in the 19th century as artists sought to paint outdoors and spontaneously rather than in a studio from sketches. The movement was pioneered by a group of Paris-based artists, including Claude Monet, who met in the early 1860s and began exhibiting together in 1874.
The Impressionists were inspired by artists such as Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, and painters of the Barbizon school. They also sought to break free from the rigid conventions of academic painting and the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which dominated French art at the time.
The Impressionists used short, broad paintbrush strokes to swiftly convey the general idea of the subject rather than its finer details. They also mixed colours as little as possible, applied wet paint on wet without waiting for previous coats to dry, and avoided using black paint.
