Impressionism (impressionnisme) is a style of painting that appeared in late XIX century in France and then spread throughout the world. The very idea of impressionism lies in its name: impression - impression. Artists who were tired of traditional academic painting techniques, which, in their opinion, did not convey all the beauty and liveliness of the world, began to use completely new techniques and methods of image, which were supposed to express in the most accessible form not a “photographic” appearance, but an impression from what he saw. In his painting, the impressionist artist uses the character of strokes and color palette tries to convey atmosphere, heat or cold, strong wind or peaceful silence, a foggy rainy morning or a bright sunny afternoon, as well as your personal experiences from what you saw.
Impressionism is a world of feelings, emotions and fleeting impressions. What is valued here is not external realism or naturalness, but rather the realism of the expressed sensations, the internal state of the picture, its atmosphere, and depth. Initially this style came under strong criticism. The first Impressionist paintings were exhibited at the Parisian “Salon of Les Misérables,” where works by artists rejected by the official Paris Salon of Arts were exhibited. The term “impressionism” was first used by critic Louis Leroy, who wrote a disparaging review in the magazine “Le Charivari” about an exhibition of artists. As the basis for the term, he took Claude Monet’s painting “Impression. Rising Sun" He called all the artists impressionists, which can be roughly translated as “impressionists.” At first, the paintings were indeed criticized, but soon more and more fans of the new direction in art began to come to the salon, and the genre itself turned from a rejected one to a recognized one.
It is worth noting that artists of the late 19th century in France did not come up with a new style empty space. They took as a basis the techniques of painters of the past, including artists of the Renaissance. Painters such as El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Rubens, Turner and others, long before the emergence of impressionism, tried to convey the mood of a picture, the liveliness of nature, the special expressiveness of the weather with the help of various intermediate tones, bright or, on the contrary, dull strokes that looked like abstract things. They used it quite sparingly in their paintings, so unusual technique did not catch the viewer's eye. The Impressionists decided to take these image methods as the basis for their works.
One more specific feature The works of the impressionists are a kind of superficial everydayness, which, however, contains incredible depth. They do not try to express any deep philosophical themes, mythological or religious problems, historical and important events. The paintings of artists of this movement are inherently simple and everyday - landscapes, still lifes, people walking down the street or going about their normal business, and so on. It is precisely such moments, where there is no excessive thematic content that distracts a person, that feelings and emotions from what they see come to the fore. Also, the impressionists, at least at the beginning of their existence, did not depict “heavy” themes - poverty, wars, tragedies, suffering, and so on. Impressionist paintings are most often the most positive and joyful works where there is a lot of light, bright colors, smoothed light and shade, smooth contrasts. Impressionism is pleasant impression, joy from life, beauty of every moment, pleasure, purity, sincerity.
The most famous impressionists became such great artists as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro and many others.
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Alfred Sisley - Lawns in Spring
Camille Pissarro - Boulevard Montmartre. Afternoon, sunny.
Impressionism is one of the most famous destinations French painting, if not the most famous. And it originated in the late 60s and early 70s of the 19th century and largely influenced further development art of that time.
Impressionism in painting
The name itself " impressionism"was coined by French art critic named Louis Leroy after visiting the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, where he criticized Claude Monet's painting "Impression: The Rising Sun" ("impression" translated into French as "impression").
Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Frederic Bazille are the main representatives of impressionism.
Impressionism in painting is characterized by fast, spontaneous and free strokes. The guiding principle was realistic image light-air environment.
The impressionists sought to capture fleeting moments on canvas. If at that very moment an object appears in an unnatural color, due to a certain angle of incidence of light or its reflection, then the artist depicts it that way: for example, if the sun paints the surface of a pond in pink color, then it will be written in pink.
Features of impressionism
Speaking about the main features of impressionism, it is necessary to name the following:
- immediate and optically accurate image of a fleeting moment;
- doing all the work on outdoors- no more preparatory sketches and finishing work in the studio;
- using pure color on the canvas, without pre-mixing on the palette;
- the use of splashes of bright paint, strokes of varying sizes and degrees of sweep, which visually add up to one picture only when viewed from a distance.
Russian impressionism
The standard portrait in this style is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Russian painting - “Girl with Peaches” by Alexander Serov, for whom impressionism, however, became just a period of passion. Russian impressionism also includes works by Konstantin Korovin, Abram Arkhipov, Philip Malyavin, Igor Grabar and other artists written at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
This affiliation is rather conditional, since Russian and classical French impressionism have their own specifics. Russian impressionism was closer to the materiality, objectivity of works, and gravitated towards artistic sense, while French impressionism, as mentioned above, simply sought to depict moments of life, without unnecessary philosophy.
In fact, Russian impressionism adopted from the French only outside style, the techniques of his painting, but never mastered the very pictorial thinking invested in impressionism.
Modern impressionism continues the traditions of classical French impressionism. In modern painting of the 21st century, many artists work in this direction, for example, Laurent Parselier, Karen Tarleton, Diana Leonard and others.
Masterpieces in the style of impressionism
"Terrace at Sainte-Adresse" (1867), Claude Monet
This painting can be called Monet's first masterpiece. She is still the most popular painting early impressionism. The artist’s favorite theme is also present here - flowers and the sea. The canvas depicts several people relaxing on the terrace on a sunny day. Relatives of Monet himself are depicted on chairs with their backs to the audience.
The whole picture is filled with bright sunlight. Clear boundaries between land, sky and sea are separated, organizing the composition vertically with the help of two flagpoles, but the composition does not have a clear center. The colors of the flags are combined with the surrounding nature, emphasizing the diversity and richness of colors.
"Bal at the Moulin de la Galette" (1876), Pierre Auguste Renoir
This painting depicts a typical Sunday afternoon in 19th-century Paris at the Moulin de la Galette, a café with an outdoor dance floor whose name corresponds to the name of the mill that is located nearby and is the symbol of Montmartre. Renoir's house was located next to this cafe; he often attended Sunday afternoon dances and enjoyed watching happy couples.
Renoir demonstrates real talent and unites art group portrait, still life and landscape painting in one picture. The use of light in this composition and the smoothness of the brush strokes the best way present style to a wide audience impressionism. This picture became one of the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction.
"Boulevard Montmartre at Night" (1897), Camille Pissarro
Although Pissarro is famous for his paintings depicting rural life, he also wrote a large number of beautiful urban scenes of the 19th century in Paris. He loved to paint the city because of the play of light during the day and evening, because of the roads illuminated by both sunlight and street lamps.
In 1897 he rented a room on the Boulevard Montmartre and painted him in different time days, and this work became the only job from a series captured after night had fallen. The canvas is filled with deep blue color and bright yellow spots of city lights. In all the paintings of the “boulevard” cycle, the main core of the composition is the road stretching into the distance.
The painting is now in National Gallery London, but during Pissarro’s lifetime it was never exhibited anywhere.
You can watch a video about the history and conditions of creativity of the main representatives of impressionism here:
Impressionism (from the French " impression" - impression) is a direction in art (literature, painting, architecture), it appeared at the end early nineteenth twentieth century in France and quickly became widespread in other countries of the world. Followers of the new direction, who believed that academic, traditional techniques, for example, in painting or architecture, cannot fully convey the fullness and the smallest details surrounding world, switched to using completely new techniques and methods, first of all in painting, then in literature and music. They made it possible to most vividly and naturally depict all the mobility and variability real world by conveying not its photographic appearance, but through the prism of the authors’ impressions and emotions about what they saw.
The author of the term “impressionism” is considered to be the French critic and journalist Louis Leroy, who, impressed by his visit to the exhibition of a group of young artists “The Salon of the Rejected” in 1874 in Paris, calls them in his feuilleton impressionists, a kind of “impressionists”, and this statement is somewhat dismissive and ironic character. Basis for the name this term was inspired by Claude Monet’s painting “Impression.” Rising Sun". And although at first many of the paintings at this exhibition were subject to sharp criticism and rejection, later this direction received wider public recognition and became popular throughout the world.
Impressionism in painting
(Claude Monet "Boats on the Beach")
The new style, manner and technique of depiction were not invented by French impressionist artists out of nowhere; it was based on the experience and achievements of the most talented painters Renaissance: Rubens, Velazquez, El Greco, Goya. From them, the impressionists took such methods of more vividly and vividly conveying the surrounding world or expressiveness of weather conditions as the use of intermediate tones, the use of techniques of bright or, on the contrary, dull strokes, large or small, characterized by abstractness. Adherents of the new direction in painting either completely abandoned the traditional academic manner of drawing, or completely remade the methods and methods of depiction in their own way, introducing such innovations as:
- Objects, objects or figures were depicted without a contour, it was replaced by small and contrasting strokes;
- A palette was not used to mix colors; colors were selected that complement each other and do not require merging. Sometimes the paint was squeezed onto the canvas directly from a metal tube, creating a pure, sparkling color with a brushstroke effect;
- Virtual absence of black color;
- The canvases were mostly painted outdoors, from nature, in order to more vividly and expressively convey their emotions and impressions of what they saw;
- The use of paints with high covering power;
- Applying fresh strokes directly onto the still wet surface of the canvas;
- Creating Loops paintings in order to study changes in light and shadow (“Haystacks” by Claude Monet);
- Lack of depiction of pressing social, philosophical or religious issues, historical or significant events. The works of the impressionists are filled with positive emotions, there is no place for gloom and heavy thoughts, there is only lightness, joy and beauty of every moment, sincerity of feelings and frankness of emotions.
(Edouard Manet "Reading")
And although not all artists of this movement adhered to particular precision in the execution of all the precise features of the impressionism style (Edouard Manet positioned himself as an individual artist and never participated in joint exhibitions (there were 8 in total from 1874 to 1886). Edgar Degas created only in his own workshop) this did not stop them from creating masterpieces visual arts, still stored in best museums, and private collections around the world.
Russian impressionist artists
Being impressed by creative ideas French impressionists, Russian artists at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century create their original masterpieces of fine art, later known as common name"Russian impressionism".
(V. A. Serov "Girl with Peaches")
Its the most prominent representatives considered to be Konstantin Korovin (“Portrait of a Chorus Girl”, 1883, “Northern Idyll” 1886), Valentin Serov (“Open Window. Lilac”, 1886, “Girl with Peaches”, 1887), Arkhip Kuindzhi (“North”, 1879, “Dnieper in the morning” 1881), Abram Arkhipov (“North Sea”, “Landscape. Study with a log house”), “late” impressionist Igor Grabar (“Birch Alley”, 1940, “Winter Landscape”, 1954) .
(Borisov-Musatov "Autumn Song")
The methods and manner of depiction inherent in impressionism took place in the works of such outstanding Russian artists as Borisov-Musatov, Bogdanov Belsky, Nilus. The classical canons of French impressionism in the paintings of Russian artists have undergone some changes, as a result of which this direction has acquired a unique national specificity.
Foreign impressionists
One of the first works executed in the style of impressionism is considered to be Edouard Manet’s painting “Luncheon on the Grass,” which was exhibited to the public in 1860 at the Paris “Salon of the Rejected”, where paintings that did not pass the selection could be dismantled Paris Salon arts The painting, painted in a style radically different from the traditional manner of depiction, aroused a lot of critical comments and rallied followers of the new art around the artist. artistic direction.
(Edouard Manet "In the Tavern of Father Lathuile")
The most famous impressionist artists include Edouard Manet (“Bar at the Folies-Bergere”, “Music in the Tuileries”, “Breakfast on the Grass”, “At Father Lathuile’s”, “Argenteuil”), Claude Monet (“Field of Poppies at Argenteuil” ", "Walk to the Cliff in Pourville", "Women in the Garden", "Lady with an Umbrella", "Boulevard des Capucines", series of works "Water Lilies", "Impression. Rising Sun"), Alfred Sisley ("Rural Alley" , “Frost at Louveciennes”, “Bridge at Argenteuil”, “Early Snow at Louveciennes”, “Lawns in Spring”), Pierre Auguste Renoir (“Breakfast of the Rowers”, “Ball at the Moulin de la Galette”, “Dance in the Country”, “Umbrellas”, “Dance at Bougival”, “Girls at the Piano”), Camille Pizarro (“Boulevard Montmartre at Night”, “Harvest at Eragny”, “Reapers Resting”, “Garden at Pontoise”, “Entering the Village of Voisin”) , Edgar Degas (" Dance class", "Rehearsal", "Concert at the Ambassador Cafe", "Opera Orchestra", "Dancers in Blue", "Absinthe Lovers"), Georges Seurat ("Sunday Afternoon", "Cancan", "Nature Models") and others.
(Paul Cezanne "Pierrot and Harlequin"")
Four artists in the 90s of the 19th century created a new direction in art based on impressionism and called themselves post-impressionists (Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec). Their work is characterized by the transmission not of fleeting sensations and impressions from the world around them, but by the knowledge of the true essence of things, which is hidden under their outer shell. Most of them famous works: Paul Gauguin (“A Mischievous Joke”, “La Orana Maria”, “Jacob’s Fight with the Angel”, “ Yellow Christ"), Paul Cezanne ("Pierrot and Harlequin", "Great Bathers", "Lady in Blue"), Vincent Van Gogh ( Starlight Night", "Sunflowers", "Irises"), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec ("The Laundress", "Toilet", "Dance Training at the Moulin Rouge").
Impressionism in sculpture
(Auguste Rodin "The Thinker")
Impressionism did not develop as a separate direction in architecture; one can find its individual features and characteristics in some sculptural compositions and monuments. This style gives the sculpture free plasticity of soft forms, they create amazing game light on the surface of the figures and give some feeling of incompleteness; sculptural characters are often depicted at the moment of movement. Works in this direction include sculptures of the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin (The Kiss, The Thinker, The Poet and the Muse, Romeo and Juliet, Eternal Spring), Italian artist and the sculptor Medardo Rosso (figures made of clay and plaster filled with wax to achieve a unique lighting effect: “The Gatekeeper and the Matchmaker,” “The Golden Age,” “Motherhood”), the Russian genius nugget Pavel Trubetskoy (bronze bust of Leo Tolstoy, monument Alexander III In Petersburg).
It is believed that art has no boundaries. Nevertheless, people have decided to divide the works of artists into genres, which can be quite easy to get confused, because the boundaries of styles are arbitrary. Today we will talk about one of the main trends in painting - impressionism.
The emergence of impressionism
Impressionism as an art genre originated in France in the 1870s. The origin of this style was the creation of the painting by C. Monet “Impression. Sunrise” (1872). One journalist called the artist an impressionist, but with a negative meaning. But this was soon forgotten, and the picture gave birth to a new genre.
In 1874, impressionist artists held their first separate exhibition. The paintings exhibited there were criticized for their lack of meaning, looseness and poor depiction. However, the artists did not stop and continued to organize such events, declaring their art.
Impressionism was a purely French phenomenon. Artists from other countries were able to adopt some features, but not to the fullest extent.
It was the Impressionists who were the first to deviate from generally accepted standards and patterns. academic writing, thereby giving a huge impetus to the development artistic arts. They deeply researched colors and new writing techniques, which ultimately led us to the diversity we have today.
It should be noted that impressionism had a serious influence and inspired with its novelty representatives of other fields of art: sculpture, music and literature.
What do impressionist paintings tell us?
Impressionism focuses on the image and the impression it gives to the viewer. Impressionist paintings most often depict ordinary scenes from life: city bustle or landscapes. Their works give viewers those fleeting impressions that the painters themselves experienced. Impressionism does not notice problems or negativity, it shows exclusively positive sides life.
Mostly in the paintings you can see such scenes as picnics, boating, dancing, tea parties, outdoor fun and other joys of life. Impressionists most often depicted people in paintings not frozen, but moving, playing, laughing. The paintings allow us to plunge into the living reality of past centuries, to see what kind of environment surrounded people XIX century.
Features of impressionist paintings
The talent of reflecting an instant first impression on a canvas is main feature all artists. They always created from life, without any sketches, capturing and conveying general mood. Impressionist paintings do not carry deep meaning or hidden content, they depict everyday life, but they do it not simply, but masterfully. When looking at such paintings, the viewer immediately has a certain thought or emotion that remains for some time after viewing.
The impressionists developed a special style of writing. The paintings they painted are most often distinguished by fuzzy lines and individual strokes. The fact is that they conveyed all the colors standard set colors, skillfully placing strokes. Much attention in their works they paid attention to the play of light and shadows, trying to create contrast. Indicative in this regard is the painting by O. Renoir “The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette” (1876).
Great Impressionists of the Past
Since the creation of the movement, there have been many artists who have worked in the style of impressionism, but very few can be called truly great. Thus, the most famous impressionist artists are C. Monet, O. Renoir, A. Sisley and C. Pissarro. In general, impressionism as a movement was especially popular at the end of the 19th century, it was then that true masters created.
This served as the beginning and inspiration for other equally famous artists - V. van Gogh, P. Cezanne, P. Gauguin. These artists became the founders of post-impressionism, which made its goal the rejection of image real life, transition to the image of its basics.
Modern Impressionists
Do not think that the direction ceased to exist after its heyday. There are still artists who choose impressionism for their work.
Paintings modern impressionists cause no less admiration than the paintings of the past. Today, many masters create in this genre, but time will tell which of them is most worthy of this title. However, there are several artists whose paintings are positioned as impressionist paintings. Photos of their work are presented below.
Take, for example, an artist named Kent R. Wallis. His canvases are distinguished by bright, rich colors, with which he creates magnificent landscapes.
Also fascinating are the paintings of artist I.J. Paprocki (E.J. Paprocki).
In his paintings, flowers, leaves and other small elements are done very realistically, while the rest of the background is done with brush strokes. This allows him to convey the beauty of details and at the same time general first impressions characteristic of impressionism.
Impressionist exhibition
First of all, I visited the exhibition for the third time in the wonderful Kiev Art Mall. I have already written about the miraculous technologies for displaying exhibitions on this site. I won’t repeat myself, I’ll just say that this time everything was great, there was no disappointment :). This latest exhibition featured paintings by all the leading masters of this artistic movement. If anyone doesn’t know, just in case, I’ll give a list of these same Impressionist masters:
- Edouard Manet. Although the artist himself constantly strived for official recognition, it was his scandalous famous picture“Breakfast on the Grass” has become a real symbol of the Salon of Rejects.
- Berthe Morisot. One of the few (I'm afraid to say that the only) female impressionist. In 2013, the painting “After Dinner” was sold at Sotheby’s for $10.9 million. This event made Morisot the most expensive artist.
- Camille Pissarro. I love his images of Parisian boulevards. The series with Montmartre Boulevard is considered one of the generally accepted symbols of impressionism.
- Claude Monet. Probably the most famous representative currents. In any case, it was his painting “Impression. Sunrise” at one time gave its name to the entire artistic movement.
- Edgar Degas. Here I would like to voice a slightly funny and exaggerated saying of the modern bohemian party: if there are a lot of little people, this is Bosch, if fat ballerinas are Degas :)
- Pierre Renoir. My favorite impressionist. And no more comments.
- Toulouse de Lautrec. Singer of entertainment and everyday life of Parisian bohemia and the “bottom”. Cabaret, brothels- his topic.
- Henri Cross. I was surprised to discover that I heard this name for the first time at the exhibition!
- Paul Signac. His beautiful landscapes of bright, pure colors gave birth to a new movement of neo-impressionism - pointillism.
- Paul Cezanne. The main association I have with him is still lifes and a dislike for human models, and this is connected with my favorite funny situation.
- Paul Gauguin. One of the titans of post-impressionism. Almost complete lack of recognition during life and records for the sale of paintings after death.
- Vincent Van Gogh. Another star with an incredibly difficult creative and life destiny. And deafening glory after death...
These are all titans. You can look at their paintings (reproductions) for hours, which is what I did at the Kyiv exhibition. My photos don't represent anything artistic value, you will be able to find much better samples. But I’ll still post a couple of fragments from the exhibition:
Impressionist museums
As I already said, impressionism accompanies my entire adult life. Even on some resources, I impudently assign myself the nickname impressionism, thereby hinting not at my involvement, but at my special reverent attitude. That’s why I was wondering where you can see non-reproductions. and the originals? Mine personal experience quite small: I visited as a student nice city Petersburg and Hermitage. In the Hermitage I didn’t even try to grasp the immensity, but immediately found in which halls you can look at impressionist paintings. The meeting is quite big! I’ll just mention a few of my favorite paintings:
Camille Pissarro. “Boulevard Montmartre in Paris” 1897
Paul Signac “Harbor in Marseille”. 1906-1907
Painting by Claude Monet “Waterloo Bridge. (Fog effect)"
Paul Gauguin. “Woman holding a fruit.” 1893
Auguste Renoir. “Girl with a fan.” 1881
Auguste Renoir. “Portrait of the actress Jeanne Samary.” 1878
But in addition to my own information, I also have the impressions of my friends. They, infected with feelings for the Impressionists no less than I was, visited Paris twice. And twice a mandatory part of their program was visits to museums that have collections of paintings from this direction. The key points of this Parisian cultural expedition are:
- Orangerie Museum– the richest collection of impressionists and post-impressionists. The most famous painting– C. Monet “Water lilies.” It was only from friends that I learned that this painting, it turns out, was painted by the artist right on the wall of the museum and completely occupies a separate room of the gallery.
- Orsay Museum is not considered specialized only in the works of the Impressionists, there are various directions represented here European painting and sculptures. But almost all of the masters who were included in the list that I posted above are exhibited in Orsay. What is worth at least one famous “Olympia” by Edouard Manet!
- Marmottan-Monet Museum has in its collection more than 300 impressionist paintings. Highlight: iconic painting Claude Monet “Impression. Sunrise". Yes, yes, exactly that one. Friends say that seeing her live is an enchanting feeling. I really envy them...
Claude Monet. Impression. Rising Sun
