Impressionism
1
IMPRESSIONISM
1870s – 1880s
See notes in red
I. KEY POINTS
A. Five Revolutions (same list as introduction to Realism)
i. Scientific: Faraday, Ohm, Avogadro, Darwin
ii. Industrial/: Telegraph, Telephone, Plastic, Elevator,
Vulcanized Rubber, sewing machine, washing machine, Steam
Locomotive, Suez Canal
iii. Technological: Bicycle, Pasteurization, Antiseptics, Anesthesia,
Photography,
iv. Social: End of Slavery, Revolutions of 1830 and 1848,
American Civil War, Rise of Nationalism, Communist
Manifesto, Manifest Destiny
v. Artistic: See Below
B. Communism
a. Marx and Engles
b. Believed that scientific, rational law governed human society.
c. History is the result of conflicting economic forces.
i. Those who control the means of production vs. the workers
who are exploited. Dialectical materialism
ii. Workers of the world unite!
iii. Ultimate goal of communism is for the proletariat (workers) to
control the means of production.
iv. Appealed to many in the working class and intellectuals.
C. Darwinism
a. Theory of evolution formulated by Charles Darwin (and Alfred
Russel Wallace) that species are created by competition between
individuals for survival and reproduction. This is natural selection.
Life on Earth is molded by natural forces (natural selection), not
chance or the work of God.
b. Challenged traditional Christian belier and contributed to
increasingly secular (non-religious) attitudes.
c. Social Darwinism: Formulated by Herbert Spencer. A (now
discredited) philosophy that economic competition between
individuals, industries, and countries are also molded by natural
selection. Justified the rapacious colonization of Africa, Indochina,
Australia, India by the “more economically fit” societies in Europe.
D. Modernism
a. Awareness of a constantly shifting reality.
Impressionism
2
i. Recognition that the world is rapidly changing through
technology and exposure to other cultures.
ii. There are forces at work (e.g. Evolution and Dialectical
Materialism) that shape the world.
b. Modernism is an attempt to capture the images and sensibilities of
their age.
i. Not just “Realism” (19th century artistic movement)
ii. It is a critical analysis about the purpose and foundations of
art at a particular time and place (here and now).
iii. A self-reflective awareness of the internal underpinnings of art
and aesthetics.
iv. “The essence of Modernism… lies in the use of the
characteristic methods of a discipline to criticize the discipline
itself.” (Clement Greenberg)
v. This mindset resulted in an effort to show rather than hide the
materials and techniques of what a piece of art is. E.g. The
loose brushstrokes that give you an awareness of pigment on
canvas rather than the highly refined surfaces of Old Masters
who worked hard to get rid of brushstrokes to enhance the
illusionistic quality of their painting. Modernists think of the
flatness of the canvas and the texture of the pigment as
elements to be explored; they are not undesirable elements of
art production that need to be hidden.
E. What is Impressionism?
1. Difficult to define; each artist was a little different
2. Emphasis on trying to capture a moment in time/a slice of life
 Short, choppy brushstrokes
 Pictures are cropped/cut-off at edges (some people get cut off) –
gives impression of a moment in time.
3. Focus on Parisian middle-class (bourgeoisie)
4. Interest in the temporary effects of light on color
 Think about how a grassy field looks at 6 AM, 12 PM, and 6 PM –
lots of different colors
 Monet may work on as many as 12 different canvases of one site
(Rouen Cathedral, Poplar trees, Grain stacks) in one day – as soon
as light changed he put that canvas aside and picked up new one –
would return to that canvas next day if light conditions similar
 Avoided use of black – “punched a hole in the canvas”
5. Exhibited together at 8 different independent shows – not part of the
Salon (1874 – 1886) –– not all the artists exhibited at every show
 Not a part of the French Academic tradition
6. Inspired by the revolutionary work of Manet
7. Influenced by Japanese woodblock prints – Impressionists collected them
 Ukiyo-e style prints
Impressionism





3
Cropped off at edges
Flat use of color – no chiaroscuro
No use of linear perspective
Decorative patterns
Slanting diagonal compositions
8. MNEMONIC DEVICE FOR
IMPRESSIONISM: ELBOW
1. EVERYDAY LIFE
2. LIGHT
3. BRUSHSTROKES
4. OUTDOORS
5. WEATHER
F. Exhibiting Opportunities
a. Impressionists were not allowed to exhibit in the Salon system which
was tightly controlled by the Academies which were subsidized by the
French government. Very conservative style, limited subject matter,
glossy finish to paintings.
b. Napoleon III established Salon des Refusés to exhibit work of rejected
artists.
i. Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe shown there.
ii. Work was poorly received by critics and public.
iii. Impressionists started their own series of exhibitions as did the
Salon des Independants.
iv. They were inspired by Courbet’s mounting his own exhibit at
the Paris World’s Fair.
v. In 1867 Manet did the same thing: mounted his own exhibition.
II. KEY ARTISTS
A. Claude Monet





One of the main figures of the movement
Believed in plein-air (outdoors, “plain air”) painting
Interested in the momentary effects of light on color
Famous for doing the same scene at various points of the day to show
the effects that light had on color
Rouen Cathedral (Flamboyant): to look at some in the series:
http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/monet/swf/
Impressionism
4





Poplars
Grain stacks
Houses of Parliament (London)
Seascapes by Normandy
Struggled financially early in career, audience grew and he became
financially successful
 Loved gardening and flowers – home at Giverny – invested in his
garden – provided subject matter for his paintings – Japanese Bridge,
Waterlilies
 Cataracts later in life – paintings become less clear and focus more on
color
 Admired and collected Japanese woodblock prints – similar qualities
in his work
1. CLAUDE MONET, Impression: Sunrise, 1872. Oil on canvas, 1’ 7 1/2” x
2’ 1 1/2”. Musée Marmottan, Paris
a. Hostile critic used the term “Impressionism” to describe this
painting. Monet and his circle embraced the new label.
2. CLAUDE MONET, Saint-Lazare Train Station, 1877. Oil on canvas, 2’ 5
3/4” x 3’ 5”. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
a. Trains were a dominant aspect of contemporary Parisian life.
b. Captured the energy and bustle of a train station, the power of the
locomotive, and the coal smoke.
3. CLAUDE MONET, Rouen Cathedral: The Portal (in Sun), 1894. Oil on
canvas, 3’ 3 1/4” x 2’ 1 7/8”. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
a. Rented an apartment across from the Cathedral and worked on
many different versions of it. Would only work on a canvas at a
similar time of day and weather. As day went on or weather
changed he would work on a different canvas.
b. Concerned with light and color to reach an understanding of form.
c. http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/monet/swf/ to see a lot of versions
of Rouen Cathedral by Monet.
B. GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE, Paris: A Rainy Day, 1877. Oil on canvas, 6’ 9”
x 9’ 9”. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, (Worcester Fund).
a. Did not use broad brush strokes of Monet but recorded the weather
and the re-modeling of Paris under Napoleon III who tore down old
buildings to make grand boulevards, sewers, street lights, new
commercial and residential buildings. Turned Paris from a medieval
city into a modern one.
C. CAMILLE PISSARRO, La Place du Théâtre Français, 1898. Oil on canvas,
2’ 4 1/2” x 3’ 1/2”. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (the Mr.
and Mrs. George Gard De Sylva Collection).
a. Also painted the “new” Paris.
Impressionism
5
b. Blurry brush work recording the movement of people in the new
environment.
c. Sometimes used photographs to capture fleeting moments and used
them as a basis for his paintings.
i. Parallels between painting and photography: Impressionists
had arbitrary cutting off of figures in frame’s edge.
ii. Also, note flattened perspective from high viewpoint.
Remember JOSIAH JOHNSON HAWES and ALBERT
SANDS SOUTHWORTH, Early Operation under Ether,
Massachusetts General Hospital, ca. 1847.
D. BERTHE MORISOT, Villa at the Seaside, 1874. Oil on canvas, 1’ 7 3/4” x 2’
1/8". Norton Simon Art Foundation, Los Angeles.
a. Manet’s sister-in-law.
b. Mostly domestic scenes as those were the ones accessible to by women.
c. A mood of relaxed pleasure.
d. Sketchy strokes record quick impressions.
e. Did not linger on outlines or details.
f. Soft focus.
g. Was not castigated like other Impressionists.
E. Pierre-Auguste Renoir
1. Another major figure of the movement - collaborated closely with Monet;
believed in plein-air painting as well
2. Painted many portraits of middle-class Parisians
3. Capturing a moment in time – temporary effects of light – more posed
than Monet’s paintings
4. Luncheon of the Boating Party
 Renoir’s friends enjoying lunch at Isle of Chatou on the Seine
River
 M. Alphonse Fournaise – son of the proprietor of establishment
 His sister – the lovely Alphonsine
 Aline – Renoir’s future wife
 Gustave Caillebotte – wealthy and talented artists – patron of
Impressionist exhibits
 Other friends, colleagues, patrons of Renoir.
5. La Moulin de la Galette
 Outdoor dance club and bar
 Middle-class men often visited (proper ladies avoided)
 Young single-women and prostitutes
Impressionism


6
Pleasant scene of leisure – couples dance, men and women flirt,
you can almost hear the tinkling of wine glasses
Notice sun penetrating through trees – shadows appear bluish,
ground appears tan
6. Madame Charpentier and Her Children (MET)
 Member of Parisian bourgeoisie, part of financial success of
Renoir
 “Painted at her home, without even shifting the furniture from
where it stands everyday; without anything being prepared to give
emphasis to one or another part of the picture.” Edmond Renoir
(brother)

7. Two Girls at the Piano (several versions)
 Later Renoir – more composed- rounder more modeled figures
F. Edgar Degas
1. Hated painting out-of-doors.
2. Counted as an Impressionist through friendship, commitment to
contemporary subject matter, and opposition to official academic
painting.
3. Famous for pictures of dancers, women during intimate moments, horse
racing
4. Well-to-do bourgeois, more opinionated and less amicable than Monet
and Renoir
5. Informal moments in the lives of subjects – dancers – warming up,
learning lessons, stretching
6. Admired Japanese woodblock prints – similar qualities to his work
7. EDGAR DEGAS, Ballet Rehearsal, 1874. Oil on canvas, 1’ 11” x 2’ 9”.
Glasgow Art Galleries and Museum, Glasgow (Burrell Collection).
a. Seemingly random composition of dancers.
b. Diagonals bring viewer’s eye into picture space.
c. Large off-center empty space. Kleiner: creates illusion of
continuity between viewer’s space and picture space. ???
8. EDGAR DEGAS, The Tub, 1886. Pastel, 1’ 11 ½” X 2’ 8 3/8”. Musee
d’Orsay, Paris
9. Problems with eyesight early in life – paintings become less clear, moves
more to sculpture – wax sculptures molded by hand (students casted
them after his death)
 Moves from oil painting more to oil pastels and chalk
 Figures appear larger and more abstract
 Sculptures: Ballerina and small posthumous cast dancers and
horses. “Art for the blind”.
Impressionism
7
G. MARY CASSATT, The Bath, ca. 1892. Oil on canvas, 3’ 3” x 2’ 2”. The Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago (Robert A. Walker Fund).
a. American living in Paris taking care of her aged parents.
b. Influenced by her friend Degas. Like him is a great draughtsman.
c. Shares his (and Japanese prints) high viewpoint and flattening of
perspective.
d. Because of limitations on women she could not go to cafes. Stuck with
domestic scenes like Morisot.
H. JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER, Nocturne in Black and Gold (The
Falling Rocket), ca. 1875. Oil on panel, 1’ 11 5/8” x 1’ 6 1/2”. Detroit Institute
of Arts, Detroit
a. American expatriate in Europe spent time in Paris and settled in
London.
b. Combined Impressionist concerns with his own.
i. Interest in contemporary life
ii. Whistler’s other interest was to create harmonies paralleling
the harmonies in music. Thus nocturnes, symphonies,
caprices, and arrangements for titles.
c. John Ruskin said Whistler in Nocturne was “flinging a pot of paint in
the public’s face.”called Nocturne
d. Whistler sued. He won but the damages were for less than a penny.
He had to pay court costs and it ruined him financially.
e. Compare and contrast to Mondrian
I. Manet – Impressionist phase
1. Admired by Impressionists who viewed Manet as a pioneer.
a. “Manet was a whole new era of painting.” Renoir
2. Befriended Impressionists, experimented with plein-air painting
3. Paintings develop choppier brushstrokes, more unfinished appearance
4. A Bar at the Folies-Bergere
 Enigmatic meaning – what is she looking at, what is she thinking
 Paris night club – she is the barmaid (Suzon – model for Manet)
 Trapeze artist – top left – audience focused on other things – they
are reflected in mirror behind Suzon
 Man in top hat in audience
 Unusual reflection in the mirror
 Beverages pushed up close on picture plane – pretty barmaid like modern advertising
 Cool signature on left bottle