No, you don’t need glasses – that’s just an impressionist painting. The vibrant interpretations of nature and nurture alike constructed in these works of art might make you think your eyes are going fuzzy, but that’s the point.
The impressionist movement began in Paris in the 1860s and soon spread through Europe and across the pond. From a reaction to Realism, Impressionism was born. Gone were the details and intricate strokes that graced the paintings of government-sanctioned exhibitions and in came the wide, bold strokes of Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Paul Cézanne.
Not wanting to be confined to stuffy antique halls, these painters moved into the sun and created their masterpieces en plein air. Impressionist paintings were intended to represent the impressions that objects gave a person, and not be an exact rendering of the object itself. Many of the works made in this era were of nature and depicted the passage of time. Colors became brighter and more intense to highlight the abstract interpretations. Because the artists painted outside, the light would shift slowly but enough to hinder their work. As a result, the painters often had to paint quickly and go back at a time of day when the light was similar.
Although the paintings were not accepted by the Salon and widely criticized for appearing unfinished and amateurish, it did not stop the greats. In fact, in 1874, the first impressionist art exhibit was on display at the Salon. The artists involved – Monet, Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, and Manet’s sister-in-law Berthe Morisot, among others – saw the opportunity to showcase their work through the annual French state-sponsored exhibition. The works were “stacked three or four high, and crowded too closely on the walls.” Works on display included Monet’s Impression: Sunrise which art critic Louis Leroy disliked with a passion. Leroy attempted to discredit the artists and the “Exhibition of Impressionists” in a satirical essay, but ended up birthing the name of the movement instead.
Impressionist paintings were known for leaving the viewer confused and a bit uncomfortable. They are meant to draw the viewer back from examining details and remind them that they were looking at a painting, and, more importantly, the artist’s interpretation of a scene. Alongside many vast landscape and quiet countryside paintings were those that portrayed ordinary people doing mundane activities. The Industrial Revolution was on the rise in France, and the inventions of steam engines, streetlights and cameras were changing lives.
Female artists at this time, which included Morisot and Mary Cassatt, were often not allowed to set up their easels in public. Instead, they were confined to painting scenes of women doing domestic activities.
The movement gained momentum because the paintings appealed to the common folk. They saw interpretations of themselves in the art going to work or tending to gardens. Today, impression paintings are abundant in many art museums and attract admirers and critics alike.
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