Impressionism is a movement in painting that appeared in France in the late 19th century.
The word “impressionism” comes from the French impression, “impression. The term was first used by the journalist Louis Leroy in an article about the exhibition of a group of young artists, the Salon des Outcasts. He criticized the painters’ work and called the painters themselves “impressionists” – that is, “impressionists. Leroy even invented a story about two visitors to the exhibition who went mad when they saw Claude Monet’s painting Impression. Sunrise.” The artists of the Salon of the outcasts were outraged by the journalist’s text. And as a sign of protest, they themselves began to call themselves an offensive, as it seemed to Leroy, the nickname “impressionists”.
Artists of this direction was against the traditions of classicism and realism. They sought to show the beauty of a particular moment, to convey their emotions from what they saw. To do this, the authors invented new methods of painting. They rejected black, did not use a palette, sometimes squeezed the paint from a tube directly on the canvas, and instead of the contours of the depicted subjects used fine strokes.
Impressionist painters were constantly experimenting with technique. For example, to explore the properties of light and shadow, Claude Monet created a whole series of paintings called Stacks. He painted the same haystack at different times of day.
The Impressionists did not create paintings on social, philosophical or religious subjects. They painted urban landscapes and people at their daily activities. Artists of this genre also often depicted their heroes in movement.
Impressionism was mostly developed in the French painting of the last third of the 19th century. From 1876 to 1886 there were eight exhibitions of impressionists. Among the most famous artists of this trend were Edouard Manet, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas.