Impressionism

Impressionism was an art movement in the 19th century pioneered by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and other Paris-based artists. Impressionist paintings aimed to capture light, movement and the ephemeral in a spontaneous style. They painted outdoors and in natural light, directly conveying sensory impressions of landscapes, city scenes and everyday moments.
The term “Impressionism” came from a critic’s derisive review of Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1872). Impressionists aimed to paint with “impressions” of spontaneity and natural light over meticulous finish. They used small brushstrokes, open composition, and a brighter palette to suggest transitory visual effects. Subjects captured leisure activities, urban bustle or landscape scenes at specific moments. Figures were often engaged in movement or daily pursuits.
Impressionism originated in Paris and influenced art worldwide. Though controversial, the movement gained acceptance in the late 1800s. Its artists aimed to capture the dynamism of contemporary life through an entirely new painting style that conveyed sensory immediacy and ephemeral qualities of light.
At its best, Impressionism produced art that conveyed the feeling of a specific moment with all its energy and visual splendor. The intimate, private glimpse into the daily pleasures and bustle of modern existence created an appealing sentiment to a new movement away from tradition and status quo.
Though the core group of Impressionists dispersed by the late 1880s, the movement shaped subsequent Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and modern art. Its influence lives on in art that aims to capture the spirit of an era through naturalistic representation of contemporary subjects and expressive suggestion of movement, light, and fleeting moments in time. At its heart, Impressionism celebrated the beauty in the transient and mundane while pioneering a radical new vision that privileged natural light, color and individual experience above strict rules or finish.