Impressionism: A beginner’s guide

The Impressionists are now widely appreciated, but they originally struggled for recognition.

c. 1874 - 1886

Rebelling against tradition, the Impressionists exhibited their own “unfinished” works to a skeptical audience.

Impressionist paintings—once considered sloppy and unfinished—draw huge crowds to museums today.

The Impressionists didn’t name themselves—so who was responsible for one of art history’s most enduring terms?

Blue snow and violet-tinted flesh—the Impressionists radically changed our expectation of color.

The surprising pictorial effects of modern art may seem at first like errors, but they are quite intentional!

Isolated for centuries, Japan opened to trade in the 1850s, providing fresh inspiration for Western artists.