Impressionism

Although this term did not come into use until 1874 when Claude Monet exhibited a painting entitled Impression, Sunrise, Le Havre —provoking the comment by Louis Leroy that pictures of this kind were an impression’ of nature, nothing more — the movement had been evolving for more than a decade. Camille Pissarro (1839–1903) had been a pupil of Corot, whose open-air landscapes pointed the way towards Impressionism. Edouard Manet (1832–83) had been influenced by Goya, whereas Edgar Degas (1834–1917) had studied under Ingres. Alfred Sisley (1839–99), Claude Monet (1840–1926) and Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) were among the other leading figures. While they were primarily preoccupied with landscape, Renoir became one of the leading exponents of the female nude, while Manet excelled in animated groups and Degas was renowned for his paintings of ballet dancers. On the fringe of Impressionism was Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), who felt uneasy at the lack of discipline in this style and wished to return to a greater reliance on form and content without sacrificing the feeling for light and brilliant colours. Out of this evolved Post-Impressionism, a term that originally meant merely ‘after Impressionism’, but which became the springboard to all the varied ‘isms’ that come under the heading of modern painting.

Apart from Cézanne, the leading Post-Impressionists included Georges Seurat (1859–91). Neither of them was particularly concerned with the emotional content of their paintings, but this was the principal feature of the lithographs and paintings of Henri deToulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) and the works of Van Gogh and Gauguin.

Excerpt from Art. The World of Art, from Aboriginal to American Pop, Renaissance Masters to Postmodernism.