Impressionism is an art movement centered on painting that emerged in France in the second half of the 19th century. Moving away from the traditional painting techniques and styles of the time, they placed emphasis on capturing on canvas the "impression" of what they saw as they viewed it under outdoor light . Impressionist painters opened the door to modern painting with bright colors and free brushwork that had not been seen before.

History of Impressionism

• In the 1860s, young artists such as Manet , Monet , and Renoir began to rebel against the Salon's conservative standards.
• In 1874, the First Impressionist Exhibition was held, featuring artists such as Monet , Degas , and Pissarro , and attracted attention as a new movement independent of traditional painting.
• From the 1870s to the 1880s, Impressionist techniques were further developed, resulting in many masterpieces.
• The Impressionist movement ended with the 8th Impressionist Exhibition in 1886, after which new movements such as Neo-Impressionism and Post-Impressionism emerged.

Representative artists and their works

• Claude Monet : Impression, Sunrise (1872)
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir : Ball at the Moulin de la Galette (1876)
• Edgar Degas : The Dance Class (1874)
• Camille Pissarro : The Red Roofs (1877)
• Berthe Morisot : The Cradle (1872)

Impressionist techniques are characterized by bright colors and fine brushstrokes. Many of the works were created outdoors, and skillfully express the changes in light and the movement of the atmosphere. By placing the paints directly on the canvas instead of mixing them on the palette, they created vivid colors through visual mixing. Another innovative aspect of the Impressionist movement was that they were not bound by traditional subjects and compositions, but instead actively painted everyday landscapes and people.

Impressionism had a major impact not only on painting, but also on other artistic fields such as literature and music. It also plays an important role in art history as a pioneer of later avant-garde art movements such as Fauvism and Cubism . The works left behind by Impressionist painters are still loved by many people today, and their influence has not faded.