IMPRESSIONI
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Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement
that originated with a group of Paris-based
artists during the 1870s and 1880s.
IMPRESSIONISM
The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression,
soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the
term in a satirical review published in the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari. (Le Chari-va-ri).
A Critic is someone who is paid to criticize or evaluate something (like a painting, a
movie, a tv show, etc…).
Satire means to make ‘fun’ of or ‘ridicule’.
In the beginning: The impressionist styles that these painters used
(“The Impressionists”) were made fun of because they used brushstrokes that were not
‘realistic’ in style to create paintings.
The subjects of the paintings could only be seen unless you stepped back from the painting,
instead of up close. Up close, all you saw was the brushstrokes and colors that made up the
forms of the subjects. They also did not form lines and contours first and took their forms from
freely brushed colors instead.
This was NOT the way the art world at the time had done things, so this set the ‘standard’ art
world on its side, and made the impressionists a target of ridicule. Many critics did not see that
this was real ‘art’, since it violated the rules of academic painting.
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Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush
strokes.
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Open Composition
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Accurate depiction of light and its’ changing qualities (often denoting the passage of time).
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Ordinary subject matter
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Inclusion of Movement
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Unusual Visual Angles
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The impressionists were radicals of their time.
They painted realistic scenes of modern life, and often painted outdoors.
In the painting below by Auguste Renoir, he depicted a busy outdoor dance in Paris.
Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Bal du mouline de la Galette), Musee D’Orsay.
By Auguste Renoir - Paris, France.
How long was the movement?
The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient
effects of sunlight by painting “en plein air”- this meant painting outdoors. They
portrayed overall visual effects instead of details, and used short "broken" brush
strokes of mixed and pure unmixed color—not blended smoothly or shaded, as
was customary—to achieve an effect of intense color vibration.
The movement lasted from
about the 1880’s and the
techniques were still being
borrowed into the 1900’s.
Some of the techniques are still
employed today, but true
impressionism’s most popular
time was from about the 1870’s
until the 1890’s.
“IMPRESSION SUNRISE by Claude Monet
the painting that ‘started it all!”.
Impressionism emerged in France and shortly thereafter worldwide the
movement took off.
Although at the time other artists worldwide were painting “en plein air”, (or
outdoors), the Impressionists, developed new techniques specific to their style.
Look at the brushstrokes
in the ballerina’s
dresses. They mix color
and light with white to
affect the highlights and
shadows of the
paintings. But keep the
brushstrokes so it’s
more about the form of
the brushstrokes rather
than the ‘realism’ of the
painting.
“Dancers In Pink”, Edgar Degas.
The public, at first hostile, gradually came to believe that the Impressionists had
captured a fresh and original vision, even if the art critics and art establishment
disapproved of the new style. By recreating the sensation in the eye that views the
subject, rather than delineating the details of the subject, and by creating a welter of
techniques and forms.
Impressionism is a precursor of various painting styles, including Neo-Impressionism,
Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism.
An important fact: Many of the impressionists painted their canvases white or a light
color before putting any other paint in order to have ‘light’ come through in their
paintings.
More works by Monet
Edgar Degas painted many ballet scenes in the impressionistic stye.
Degas also painted many horse races and events
‘en plein air’ (painting in the open air outside) using
the impressionistic style.
Ironically, however, Degas rejected much of this, as
he believed in the primacy of drawing over color and
belittled the practice of painting outdoors, even
though he did it.
Although Degas did not
consider himself an
impressionist, he is still
considered one of many in the
art movement.
Degas did many paintings of
ballet dancers and was
fascinated by movement and
form and how he could show
this with brushstrokes.
Peintres by Camille Pissaro
Woman and child on a balcony
by Berthe Morisot
Monet, Sisley, Morisot, and Pissarro may be considered the "purest"
Impressionists, in their consistent pursuit of an art of spontaneity, sunlight, and
color. Berthe Morisot was one of the few women impressionists.
Monet’s “Water
Lilies”
"a completely
new, fluid, and
somewhat
audacious style
of painting in
which the waterlily pond became
the point of
departure for an
almost abstract
art."
Monet’s bridge at
Giverny, his last home;
where he created
incredible gardens and
painted everything from
the water lillies to the
weeping willows and the
streams.
He is buried there and it
is now a museum.
Monet has been described as "the driving force behind Impressionism”.
Crucial to the art of the Impressionist painters was the understanding of the
effects of light on the local color of objects, and the effects of the
juxtaposition of colors with each other.
Monet's long career as a painter was spent in the pursuit of this aim.
George Seraut, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884–1886, at
The Art Institute of Chicago- this was known as “pointallism”; made by using the ‘point’ of
the paintbrush rather than strokes, to create a painting.
More impressionistic work by Renoir
More examples of impressionism paintings ‘en plein air’.
Renoir again- look at the light and strokes made by the paint in order to
create a real painting that depicted a whimsical and airy mood- note how
the brushstrokes and color choices add movement.
The Impressionists relaxed the boundary between subject and background so that
the effect of an Impressionist painting often resembles a snapshot, a part of a larger
reality captured as if by chance.
Photography was gaining popularity, and as cameras became more portable,
photographs became more candid.
Photography inspired Impressionists to represent momentary action, not only in the
fleeting lights of a landscape, but in the day-to-day lives of people.
Click on the Link below for a 5 minute video on
impressionism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RHGbWBg
DvI
TIME FOR ACTIVITIES!
SCROLL DOWN FOR EXAMPLES WHEN YOU EXPLAIN ACTIVITIES
STUDENTS CAN CUT OUT
COLORS AND CREATE
THEIR OWN
IMPRESSINISTIC
LANDSCAPE PAINTING
BASED ON SOMETHING
THEY WANT TO DRAW OR A
FAMOUS PAINTING WE JUST
TALKED ABOUT.
YOU CAN LEAVE ONE OF
THE FAMOUS SLIDES ON
THE SMART BOARD AND
HAVE STUDENTS SKETCH IT
OUT ON A SHEET OF WHITE
PAPER!
STUDENTS COULD ATTEMPT A SELF PORTRAIT – START IN CLASS
AND FINISH AT HOME- OF THEMSELVES!
YOU CAN CUT PAPER FROM CONSTRUCTION PAPER OR MAGAZINES
(LIKE THE SHOW HERE ABOVE, AND CREATE YOUR OWN
‘IMPRESSIONISTIC STYLE CUT PAPER PAINTING.