• 19th century
• 1870-1880’s
• Paris, France
• Term comes from Monet’s painting
Impression-Sunrise
• Photography invented in 1826 affected the art world
• Rejected by art critics

• First total artistic revolution since the
Renaissance
• Radical change from traditional art schools
– Salon Art Exhibition
• Departs from tradition by rejecting
– Renaissance perspective,
– Balance
– idealized figures
– Chiaroscuro
– Religious, historical, or mythological subjects
• Exhibited their Art Independently
• Represented immediate visual sensations through color and light
• All started as Realists

• Realistic, everyday scenes
• Painted outdoors “en plein air”
• Short “broken” brush strokes
• Overall visual effects instead of details
• Mixed and pure unmixed colour.
• Immediacy and Movement
• Interest in Light and colour
• Optical Mixing of colour
• Doesn’t use black, uses complimentaries to make shadows and highlights
“No shadow is black, it always has a color. Nature knows only color, white and black are not colors.”

• Monet
• Degas
• Pissarro
• Rodin
• Cassat

• Father of Modern Art
• Had a great influence on the
Impressionist movement
• Never exhibited with the Impressionists
• Attempted to exhibit at the Salon
• Utilized Black in his work
• Wanted viewer to look at his paintings, not through them like a window

Eduardo Manet, Luncheon on the Grass ,1863

Luncheon on the Grass
• Marked him as a “danger” to public morality
• Based on Renaissance paintings
– Triangle composition
– Still life
– Illusion of depth
• Her contemporary look and direct gaze made it scandalous
• Nude female in an everyday setting with two clothed men.

Eduardo Manet, Gare Saint-Lazare , 1873

Gare Saint-Lazare
• No chiaroscuro
• Light source
• Layout of depth/composition
• Dichotomy of the two figures
• Cropped like a photo
• No black

• Eduardo Manet, The Waitress , 1878

The Waitress
• Looser, longer brushstrokes
• Directional Snapshot effect
• Lots of movement give impression of scene

Manet, Bar at Folies Bergere

• Leader of Impressionism
• Only painted outside
• Did not paint objects, only the colors he saw
• Optical Mixing/Broken Color
– Putting pure color next to each other so they are visually blended
• Basis for Impressionist theories of color and light
• Painted many series of the same subject

Claude Monet, Argenteuil , 1872

Monet, Rouen Cathedral

• Did 30+ paintings
• Depicted the heavy massive stone as only light and color

Monet, Water Lily

Monet, Houses of Parliment

Monet, Venice Twilight

Monet, Waterlilies

Monet, The Water Lily Pond

• Father of the Impressionists
• Only artist to show work at all 8
Impressionist Exhibitions
• Oldest member
• Considered both an Impressionist and Post-
Impressionist

Pissarro, Boulevard at Night

• Liked to paint street scenes from second story windows
• Shimmering light and color of the busy street
• Wanted to capture the instantaneous sensation of the scene
Boulevard at Night

Pissarro, Country

Pissarro, Portrait of Madame Pissarro Sewing at a Window

Pissarro, Sunset at St. Charles

Pissarro, Portrait of a Pork Butcher

• Different than most Impressionists
• Did not like to paint outside
“Art is not a sport.”
• Carefully considered design and positioning of people and objects
• Master of line and drawing
• First artist to display his pastel drawings as finished works
• Did many drawing of the Ballet Dancers

Degas, Rehearsal on the Stage ,1874

• Softness of costumes is contrasted with lines and edges of figures and background
• Seemingly unbalanced composition
– Asymmetrical feel
• Creates a feeling of immediacy and unplanned
• Uses pastel to convey the color and excitement of ballet
Rehearsal on the Stage

Degas, Carriage at the Races ,1873

Carriage at the Races
• Used a great sense of design
• Painted outdoors
• High-keyed palette
• Contrasts with darker tones
• Horse and carriage are off-center to give the feeling of a momentary glimpse
• Balanced by partial carriage on left

Degas ,The Absinthe Drinker ,1876

• Shows darker side of
Paris
• Looks like snapshot, yet is carefully planned
• Diagonals draw viewer in
The Absinthe Drinker

Degas, Dance at the Moulin de la Galette Montmarte,
1876

Degas, In the Meadow , 1892

Degas, Blue Ballerinas

Degas, The Rehersal

Degas, The Dancers

Degas, The Star

• American Artist
• Traveled to Paris to study Impressionism
• Portrayed the social and Private Lives of
Women
– Mother and Children
• Highly influenced by Degas

Cassatt, Breakfast in Bed

Cassatt, Woman with a Pearl Necklace

Cassatt, In the Box

Cassatt, At the Theatre

Cassatt, La Toilette