Impressionism

I will begin by talking about impressionism. The period of Impressionist art ranged from the 1870s to the 1890s. It began in Paris, in France and eventually spread all around the globe and even reached the United States. Several very famous artists featured around this time and used the impressionist style. Claude Monet would be one of the most famous followed closely by Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Paul Cezanne.

Impressionism was a style of painting which did not necessarily look realistic to the human eye but it was easy to tell what it was. The artist would be less ridged with their brushwork and use brighter, richer, more intense colours. They would paint what they perceived to be the most important parts brighter and sometimes bigger then lesser important ones.

 

Picture from- http://www.wikiart.org/en/claude-monet/water-lilies-40

In this painting of Claude Monet's 'Water Lilies' these impressionist styles can be clearly seen. The non-precise brushwork and bright colour of the lilies are typical from this time period. It was also very common at that time for artists to paint nature scenes and this particular picture in Claude Monet's garden was painted many, many times at different times of day and year.

I find it a fascinating time in painting history as it was one of the first times people became a little more free in their style and didn't stick exactly to what they saw in front of them. I think that freedom caused the artists style and feeling to come out more in their work.

Information from- http://www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm