
Impressionism: c. 1874-1886

How does this painting by Claude Monet achieve such simplicity and complexity at the same time?
Monet, Wheatstacks (Snow Effect, Morning)

The distinctive qualities of Japanese art offered striking new approaches to modern artists developing alternatives to the Western tradition of naturalistic representation.
Japonisme

Viewers are often surprised to learn that one of the children is a boy, since both children are dressed alike.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Portrait of Madame Charpentier and ...

Odd advice from Monet? "When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you."
Impressionism as optical realism: Monet

Though they depicted outdoor light, the Impressionists were also interested in depicting middle-class leisure.
Impressionism: painting modern life

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

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

Impressionist paintings—once considered sloppy and unfinished—draw huge crowds to museums today.
What does “Impressionism” mean?

The subject takes control over the outdoor setting, expressing her independence in spite of limitations.
A summer day in Paris: Berthe Morisot’s ...

In the suburbs, Parisians escaped the pressures of modern life. Monet painted their sun-drenched pleasures.
How to recognize Monet: The Basin at ...

Renoir wanted to forget everything he knew about how to paint so that he could render light as it really is.
How to recognize Renoir: The Swing

Lacking access to the cafes and bars male Impressionists painted, Morisot mastered intimate domestic interiors.
Berthe Morisot, The Cradle

Hazy with smoke, the architecture of the train station and technology of the iron engine dissolve before our eyes.
Monet, The Gare Saint-Lazare

Isolated for centuries, Japan opened to trade in the 1850s, providing fresh inspiration for Western artists.
Looking east: how Japan inspired Monet, Van ...

The male body at work is gorgeously glorified in Caillebotte’s canvas, raising questions of class and sexuality.
Gustave Caillebotte, The Floor Scrapers (Les raboteurs ...

Why was it considered troublesome to exhibit this painting of a naked man when female nudes were the norm?
Gustave Caillebotte, Man at his Bath

Though called “an Impressionist in name only,” Caillebotte is all about light and movement–just like his peers.
Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street; Rainy Day

Monet’s painting technique is perfectly suited for depicting this windy seaside day on the English Channel.
Claude Monet, Cliff Walk at Pourville

The subject looks through opera glasses, but she herself is the object of another man’s gaze—not to mention ours.
Mary Cassatt, In the Loge

Degas is off to the races, where class issues are in the foreground.