Impressionism
Impressionism
The Impressionist movement
began in France in the 1860s.
It was probably the most important
and successful art movement ever.
Until the 1880s, the only way
that artists could be
successful was to have their
paintings shown at Le Salon.
This was France’s yearly
official art show.
Judges awarded prizes to the
winners .
Exhibiting paintings at the Salon
was the only way for artists to
become known and get work.
Work that was considered to be “acceptable”
at Le Salon had to look realistic, like this
Ingres, 1800s, Madame d’Haussonville
Or historical like this…………. Ingres, Napoleon on His Throne, 1806
Or Biblical, like this…..
The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugene Delacriox, 1846
However, this traditional way of
looking at the world was changing,
mainly because of the invention of
the camera
Many artists began to take photographs and this affected
the way they painted:
They were able to capture movement and spontaneity.
They experimented with less formal poses
and cropping
Advances in technology also made
it possible for manufacturers to
mass produce paint and put it in
tubes.
The artists began to paint outside.
They became interested in using pure
color and painting the effects of
changing light on color.
But when these artists tried to
exhibit their work at Le Salon,
they were rejected because the
critics said that the paintings
looked sloppy and unfinished.
And so they got together and
put on their own exhibitions.
The leader of the Impressionists
was Claude Monet. The term
Impressionist came from his
painting Impression: Sunrise
“Impressionism” was intended as an
insult, but the name stuck and
eventually the artists embraced it
Monet often painted the same subject at different
times of day and in different weather. He painted
haystacks in the fields…..
Waterlillies…..
Rouen Cathedral……..
Landscapes……
People……
And his garden, which became famous.
Other important Impressionist painters were
Edgar Degas….
Pierre-August Renoir
Paul Cezanne…
And Mary Cassatt, an American who helped to
make Impressionism popular in the United States
The Impressionist movement
was revolutionary for the art
world because it paved the way
for abstraction.
Artists were no longer restricted
to painting in a realistic manner.
Georges Seurat
Pointillism and Optical Mixing
Seurat placed
small dots of
color close
together so
that they
appear to mix
when viewed
from a distance
Seurat placed
small dots of
different colors
next to each
other. When
viewed from a
distance, they
appear to mix.
This is called Optical Mixing
Turn in the practice oil pastel (orange, lemon, etc.)
Go to the computer lab and look at Monet
Landscapes or Impressionist Landscapes
Copy and paste into a Word document
Change format to Landscape and enlarge to fill the
page. Print.
Try to recreate the style of the
brushstrokes with your pastels
Complete the reading packet on
Impressionism.