Impressionism Subjects and Styles

Pissarro Jean Louis David “Father of Impressionist Movement” Salon Embraced Seurats Pointillism as the natural development of Impressionism historical/religious/mythological subjects

Modern World Began in France. Most successful movement. Name derived from Monet’s early work “Sunrise” Reacted Strongly against the “dead art” of the past and the restrictions of the Academic Art/Salon. The idea of recording immediate impressions, documenting own experiences. Capturing a moment in time.

Sensory Impressions Degas

Sensory Impressions Images appear to be accidental and spontaneous. Artists did make numerous preliminary sketches. Wanted the work to be uncontrived.

Public Places “En plain air” or out of doors Depicting sunlight and its effects on objects. This completely changed the darker palette characteristic of the Salon. Renoir and Monet used rainbow colors eliminated black shadows/no outlines Monet one of the most famous French Impressionist Monet

Public Places – Radiant portraits of large groups of people Renoir “Luncheon of the Boating Party”

Public Places Cassatt and Manet

Public Places Degas Cassatt was influenced by the work of Degas Cassatt La Loge 1879

Optical Color Mixing Colors juxtaposed on the canvas and fused by the eye at a certain distance. Use of unmixed primary colors. Made a visual vibration that recreated the sense of sparkling sunlight.

Seurat – Neo-Impressionist responsible for creating pointillism (Detail)

Optical Color Mixing Seurat

Optical Color Mixing Created Images of haystacks and gardens Monet

Sense of Immediacy Moment of the artist’s visual experience was directly transcribed onto the canvas. Use of broken brushwork and the transience of the subjects such a running horses and people at work. Small brush strokes used to simulate actual reflected light.

Sense of Immediacy Cassatt Morisot

Degas Known for his paintings of ballerinas, racetracks, cafes and music halls

Influences Development of Paris and urban sensibility. Leisure activities – outdoor activies Technology and photography – captured how people and animals moved. Rise of the middle class. Commercially available oil paint in resealable aluminum tubes – artists could work outside

Influences Japanese prints, flat, bright color, emphasizing line and asymmetrical compositions. Cassatt

Applied pastels with loose vigorous strokes, leaving soft fuzzy lines. Suggesting immediacy Favorite subjects were women/children/family The only American to exhibit with the the Impressionist Cassatt

Morisot Made famous for her bright colored portraits of women, children and basic family life The first woman to join the Impressionist