These artists broke new ground with sketchy, light-filled canvases shown in independent exhibitions.
c. 1874 - 1886
Beginner's guide
These artists each sought their own solutions for the depiction of modern life. Can we even call Impressionism a unified style?
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Monet, Wheatstacks (Snow Effect, Morning)
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How does this painting by Claude Monet achieve such simplicity and complexity at the same time?
Japonisme
The distinctive qualities of Japanese art offered striking new approaches to modern artists developing alternatives to the Western tradition of naturalistic representation.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Portrait of Madame Charpentier and Her Children
Viewers are often surprised to learn that one of the children is a boy, since both children are dressed alike.
Impressionism as optical realism: Monet
Odd advice from Monet? "When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you."
Impressionism: painting modern life
Though they depicted outdoor light, the Impressionists were also interested in depicting middle-class leisure.
Impressionist color
Blue snow and violet-tinted flesh—the Impressionists radically changed our expectation of color.
Impressionist pictorial space
The surprising pictorial effects of modern art may seem at first like errors, but they are quite intentional!
What does “Impressionism” mean?
Impressionist paintings—once considered sloppy and unfinished—draw huge crowds to museums today.
A summer day in Paris: Berthe Morisot’s Hunting Butterflies
The subject takes control over the outdoor setting, expressing her independence in spite of limitations.
How to recognize Monet: The Basin at Argenteuil
In the suburbs, Parisians escaped the pressures of modern life. Monet painted their sun-drenched pleasures.
How to recognize Renoir: The Swing
Renoir wanted to forget everything he knew about how to paint so that he could render light as it really is.
Berthe Morisot, The Cradle
Lacking access to the cafes and bars male Impressionists painted, Morisot mastered intimate domestic interiors.
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