School encyclopedia. French impressionism: general characteristics, main masters What does impressionism mean

Introduction

Impressionism as a phenomenon in art

Impressionism in painting

Impressionist artists

3.1 Claude Monet

3.2 Edgar Degas

3.3 Alfred Sisley

3.4 Camille Pissarro

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

This essay is dedicated to impressionism in art - painting.

Impressionism is one of the brightest and most important phenomena in European art, which largely determined the entire development of modern art. Currently, the works of the Impressionists, who were not recognized in their time, are highly valued and their artistic merits are undeniable. The relevance of the chosen topic is explained by the need for every modern person to understand art styles and know the main milestones of its development.

I chose this topic because impressionism was a kind of revolution in art, changing the idea of works of art as holistic, monumental things. Impressionism brought to the fore the individuality of the creator, his own vision of the world, relegating political and religious subjects and academic laws to the background. It is interesting that emotions and impressions, and not plot and morality, played main role in the works of the Impressionists.

Impressionism (fr. impressionnisme, from impression- impression) - a movement in the art of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries, which originated in France and then spread throughout the world, whose representatives sought to capture the most natural and unbiased real world in its mobility and variability, to convey your fleeting impressions. Usually the term “impressionism” refers to a movement in painting, although its ideas have also found their embodiment in literature and music.

The term "impressionism" arose with light hand critic of the magazine “Le Charivari” Louis Leroy, who entitled his feuilleton about the Salon of Les Misérables “Exhibition of the Impressionists”, taking as a basis the title of this painting by Claude Monet.

Auguste Renoir Paddling pool, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Origins

During the Renaissance, painters Venetian school tried to convey living reality using bright colors and intermediate tones. The Spaniards took advantage of their experiences, most clearly expressed in such artists as El Greco, Velazquez and Goya, whose work subsequently had a serious influence on Manet and Renoir.

At the same time, Rubens made the shadows on his canvases colored, using transparent intermediate shades. As Delacroix observed, Rubens depicted light with subtle, refined tones, and shadows with warmer, richer colors, conveying the effect of chiaroscuro. Rubens did not use black, which would later become one of the main principles of impressionist painting.

Edouard Manet was influenced by the Dutch artist Frans Hals, who painted with sharp strokes and loved contrast bright colors and black.

The transition of painting to impressionism was also prepared by English painters. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Claude Monet, Sisley and Pissarro went to London to study the great landscape painters Constable, Bonington and Turner. As for the latter, already in his later works it is noticeable how the connection with the real image of the world disappears and the withdrawal into the individual transmission of impressions.

Eugene Delacroix had a strong influence, he already distinguished between local color and color acquired under the influence of light, his watercolors painted in North Africa in 1832 or in Etretat in 1835, and especially the painting “The Sea at Dieppe” (1835) allow us to talk about him as a predecessor of the Impressionists.

The final element that influenced the innovators was Japanese art. Since 1854, thanks to exhibitions held in Paris, young artists have discovered masters of Japanese printmaking such as Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshige. A special, hitherto unknown in European fine art, arrangement of an image on a sheet of paper - an offset composition or a tilted composition, a schematic representation of form, a penchant for artistic synthesis - won the favor of the impressionists and their followers.

Story

Edgar Degas, Blue dancers, 1897, Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin, Moscow

The beginning of the search for impressionists dates back to the 1860s, when young artists were no longer satisfied with the means and goals of academicism, as a result of which each of them independently looked for other ways to develop their style. In 1863, Edouard Manet exhibited the painting “Lunch on the Grass” at the Salon of the Rejected and actively spoke at meetings of poets and artists in the Guerbois cafe, which were attended by all the future founders of the new movement, thanks to which he became the main defender of modern art.

In 1864, Eugene Boudin invited Monet to Honfleur, where he spent the entire fall watching his teacher paint sketches in pastels and watercolors, and his friend Yonkind applying paint to his works with vibrating strokes. It was here that they taught him to work en plein air and paint in light colors.

In 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War, Monet and Pissarro went to London, where they became acquainted with the work of the predecessor of impressionism, William Turner.

Claude Monet. Impression. Sunrise. 1872, Marmottan-Monet Museum, Paris.

Origin of the name

The first important exhibition of the Impressionists took place from April 15 to May 15, 1874 in the studio of the photographer Nadar. 30 artists were presented there, with a total of 165 works. Monet's canvas - “Impression. Rising Sun" ( Impression, soleil levant), now in the Marmottin Museum, Paris, written in 1872, gave birth to the term "Impressionism": the little-known journalist Louis Leroy, in his article in the magazine "Le Charivari", called the group "Impressionists" to express his disdain. Artists, out of defiance, accepted this epithet; later it took root, lost its original negative meaning and came into active use.

The name “impressionism” is quite meaningless, unlike the name “Barbizon School”, where at least there is an indication of the geographical location of the artistic group. There is even less clarity with some artists who were not formally included in the circle of the first impressionists, although their technical techniques and means are completely “impressionistic” Whistler, Edouard Manet, Eugene Boudin, etc.) In addition, the technical means of the impressionists were known long before the 19th century centuries and they were (partially, to a limited extent) used by Titian and Velazquez, without breaking with the dominant ideas of their era.

There was another article (by Emil Cardon) and another title - “Rebel Exhibition”, which was absolutely disapproving and condemning. It was precisely this that accurately reproduced the disapproving attitude of the bourgeois public and criticism towards artists (Impressionists), which had prevailed for years. The Impressionists were immediately accused of immorality, rebellious sentiments, and failure to be respectable. IN currently this is surprising, because it is not clear what is immoral in the landscapes of Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, everyday scenes of Edgar Degas, still lifes of Monet and Renoir.

Decades have passed. And the new generation of artists will come to a real collapse of forms and impoverishment of content. Then both criticism and the public saw the condemned impressionists as realists, and a little later as classics of French art.

Impressionism as a phenomenon in art

Impressionism is one of the brightest and most interesting trends in French art last quarter of the 19th century, born in a very difficult situation, characterized by diversity and contrasts, which gave impetus to the emergence of many modern trends. Impressionism, despite its short duration, had a significant influence on the art of not only France, but also other countries: the USA, Germany (M. Lieberman), Belgium, Italy, England. In Russia, the influence of impressionism was experienced by K. Balmont, Andrei Bely, Stravinsky, K. Korovin (closest in his aesthetics to the impressionists), the early V. Serov, as well as I. Grabar. Impressionism was the last major artistic movement in 19th-century France, drawing the line between modern and contemporary art.

According to M. Aplatov, “pure impressionism probably did not exist. Impressionism is not a doctrine, it could not have canonized forms...French impressionist artists have one or another of its features to varying degrees.” Usually the term “impressionism” refers to a movement in painting, although its ideas have found their embodiment in other forms of art, for example, in music.

Impressionism is, first of all, the art of observing reality, conveying or creating an impression that has reached unprecedented sophistication, an art in which the plot is not important. This is a new, subjective artistic reality. The Impressionists put forward their own principles of perception and display of the surrounding world. They erased the line between the main subjects worthy high art, and secondary subjects.

An important principle of impressionism was the avoidance of typicality. Immediacy and a casual look have entered art; it seems that the Impressionist paintings were painted by a simple passer-by walking along the boulevards and enjoying life. It was a revolution in vision.

The aesthetics of impressionism developed partly as an attempt to decisively free oneself from the conventions of classicist art, as well as from the persistent symbolism and profundity of late romantic painting, which suggested seeing encrypted meanings in everything that needed careful interpretation. Impressionism not only affirms the beauty of everyday reality, but also makes artistically significant the post-constant variability of the surrounding world, the naturalness of spontaneous, unpredictable, random impressions. Impressionists strive to capture its colorful atmosphere without detailing or interpreting it.

As an artistic movement, impressionism, particularly in painting, quickly exhausted its capabilities. Classical French impressionism was too narrow, and few remained faithful to its principles throughout their lives. In the process of development of the impressionistic method, the subjectivity of pictorial perception overcame objectivity and rose to an increasingly higher formal level, opening the way for all movements of post-impressionism, including the symbolism of Gauguin and the expressionism of Van Gogh. But, despite the narrow time frame - just two decades, impressionism brought art to a fundamentally different level, having a significant impact on everything: modern painting, music and literature, as well as cinema.

Impressionism introduced new themes; works of a mature style are distinguished by a bright and spontaneous vitality, the discovery of new artistic possibilities of color, the aestheticization of a new painting technique, and the very structure of the work. It is these features that emerged in impressionism that are further developed in neo-impressionism and post-impressionism. The influence of impressionism as an approach to reality or as a system of expressive techniques found its way into almost all art schools of the early 20th century; it became the starting point for the development of a number of directions, including abstractionism. Some principles of impressionism - the transmission of instantaneous movement, the fluidity of form - appeared to varying degrees in the sculpture of the 1910s, in E. Degas, Fr. Rodin, M. Golubkina. Artistic impressionism greatly enriched the means of expression in literature (P. Verlaine), music (C. Debussy), and theater.

2. Impressionism in painting

In the spring of 1874, a group of young painters, including Monet, Renoir, Pizarro, Sisley, Degas, Cezanne and Berthe Morisot, neglected the official Salon and staged their own exhibition, subsequently becoming the central figures of the new movement. It took place from April 15 to May 15, 1874 in the studio of the photographer Nadar in Paris, on the Boulevard des Capucines. 30 artists were presented there, with a total of 165 works. Such an act in itself was revolutionary and broke with centuries-old foundations, but the paintings of these artists at first glance seemed even more hostile to tradition. It took years before these later recognized classics of painting were able to convince the public not only of their sincerity, but also of their talent. All these very different artists were united by a common struggle against conservatism and academicism in art. The Impressionists held eight exhibitions, the last in 1886.

It was at the first exhibition in 1874 in Paris that Claude Monet's painting of a sunrise appeared. It attracted everyone's attention primarily with its unusual title: “Impression. Sunrise". But the painting itself was unusual; it conveyed that almost elusive, changeable play of colors and light. It was the name of this painting - “Impression” - thanks to the ridicule of one of the journalists, that laid the foundation for a whole movement in painting called impressionism (from the French word “impression” - impression).

Trying to express their direct impressions of things as accurately as possible, the impressionists created new method painting. Its essence was to convey the external impression of light, shadow, reflexes on the surface of objects with separate strokes of pure paint, which visually dissolved the form in the surrounding light-air environment.

Plausibility was sacrificed to personal perception - the impressionists could, depending on their vision, paint the sky green and the grass blue, the fruits in their still lifes were unrecognizable, human figures were vague and sketchy. What was important was not what was depicted, but “how” was important. The object became a reason for solving visual problems.

The creative method of impressionism is characterized by brevity and sketchiness. After all, only a short sketch made it possible to accurately record individual states of nature. What was previously allowed only in sketches has now become main feature completed paintings. Impressionist artists tried with all their might to overcome the static nature of painting and to forever capture the beauty of a fleeting moment. They began to use asymmetrical compositions to better highlight those who interested them characters and objects. In certain techniques of impressionistic construction of composition and space, the influence of passion for one’s own age is noticeable - not antiquity as before, Japanese engravings (such masters as Katsushika Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro) and partly photography, its close-ups and new points of view.

The Impressionists also updated their color scheme; they abandoned dark, earthy paints and varnishes and applied pure, spectral colors to the canvas, almost without mixing them first on the palette. Conventional, “museum” blackness in their canvases gives way to a play of colored shadows.

Thanks to the invention of metal tubes of paint, ready-made and portable, which replaced the old paints made by hand from oil and powdered pigments, artists were able to leave their studios to work plein air. They worked very quickly, because the movement of the sun changed the lighting and color of the landscape. Sometimes they squeezed paint onto the canvas straight from the tube and produced pure, sparkling colors with a brushstroke effect. By placing a stroke of one paint next to another, they often left the surface of the paintings rough. To preserve the freshness and variety of natural colors in the picture, the Impressionists created a painting system that is distinguished by the decomposition of complex tones into pure colors and the interpenetration of separate strokes of pure color, as if mixing in the viewer’s eye, with colored shadows and perceived by the viewer according to the law of complementary colors.

Striving for maximum immediacy in conveying the surrounding world, the Impressionists, for the first time in the history of art, began to paint primarily in outdoors and raised the importance of sketches from life, which almost replaced traditional type paintings carefully and slowly created in the studio. Due to the very method of working in the open air, the landscape, including the city landscape they discovered, occupied a very important place in the art of the Impressionists. The main theme for them was the quivering light, the air in which people and objects seemed to be immersed. In their paintings one could feel the wind, wet earth heated by the sun. They sought to show the amazing richness of color in nature.

Impressionism introduced new themes into art - daily city life, street landscapes and entertainment. Its thematic and plot range was very wide. In their landscapes, portraits, and multi-figure compositions, artists strive to preserve the impartiality, strength and freshness of the “first impression”, without going into individual details, where the world is an ever-changing phenomenon.

Impressionism is distinguished by its bright and immediate vitality. It is characterized by the individuality and aesthetic value of the paintings, their deliberate randomness and incompleteness. In general, the works of the Impressionists are distinguished by their cheerfulness and passion for the sensual beauty of the world.

Impressionism (from the French " impression" - impression) is a direction in art (literature, painting, architecture), it appeared at the end early nineteenth twentieth century in France and quickly became widespread in other countries of the world. Followers of the new direction, who believed that academic, traditional techniques, for example, in painting or architecture, cannot fully convey the fullness and the smallest details surrounding world, switched to using completely new techniques and methods, first of all in painting, then in literature and music. They made it possible to most vividly and naturally depict all the mobility and variability of the real world by conveying not its photographic appearance, but through the prism of the impressions and emotions of the authors about what they saw.

The author of the term “impressionism” is considered to be the French critic and journalist Louis Leroy, who, impressed by his visit to the exhibition of a group of young artists “The Salon of the Rejected” in 1874 in Paris, calls them in his feuilleton impressionists, a kind of “impressionists”, and this statement is somewhat dismissive and ironic character. The basis for the name of this term was the painting by Claude Monet “Impression” seen by a critic. Rising Sun". And although at first many of the paintings at this exhibition were subject to sharp criticism and rejection, later this direction received wider public recognition and became popular throughout the world.

Impressionism in painting

(Claude Monet "Boats on the Beach")

The new style, manner and technique of depiction were not invented by French impressionist artists out of nowhere; it was based on the experience and achievements of the most talented painters of the Renaissance: Rubens, Velazquez, El Greco, Goya. From them, the impressionists took such methods of more vividly and vividly conveying the surrounding world or the expressiveness of weather conditions, such as the use of intermediate tones, the use of techniques of bright or, on the contrary, dull strokes, large or small, characterized by abstractness. Adherents of the new direction in painting either completely abandoned the traditional academic manner of drawing, or completely remade the methods and methods of depiction in their own way, introducing such innovations as:

Objects, objects or figures were depicted without a contour, it was replaced by small and contrasting strokes;
A palette was not used to mix colors; colors were selected that complement each other and do not require merging. Sometimes the paint was squeezed onto the canvas directly from a metal tube, creating a pure, sparkling color with a brushstroke effect;
Virtual absence of black color;
The canvases were mostly painted outdoors, from nature, in order to more vividly and expressively convey their emotions and impressions of what they saw;
The use of paints with high covering power;
Applying fresh strokes directly onto the still wet surface of the canvas;
Creating Loops paintings in order to study changes in light and shadow (“Haystacks” by Claude Monet);
Lack of depiction of pressing social, philosophical or religious issues, historical or significant events. The works of the impressionists are filled with positive emotions, there is no place for gloom and heavy thoughts, there is only lightness, joy and beauty of every moment, sincerity of feelings and frankness of emotions.

(Edouard Manet "Reading")

And although not all artists of this movement adhered to particular precision in the execution of all the precise features of the impressionist style (Edouard Manet positioned himself as an individual artist and never participated in joint exhibitions (there were 8 in total from 1874 to 1886). Edgar Degas created only in his own workshop) this did not stop them from creating masterpieces visual arts, still stored in best museums, and private collections around the world.

Russian impressionist artists

Being impressed by creative ideas French impressionists, Russian artists at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century create their original masterpieces fine arts, later known as common name"Russian impressionism".

(V. A. Serov "Girl with Peaches")

Its the most prominent representatives considered to be Konstantin Korovin (“Portrait of a Chorus Girl”, 1883, “Northern Idyll” 1886), Valentin Serov (“Open Window. Lilac”, 1886, “Girl with Peaches”, 1887), Arkhip Kuindzhi (“North”, 1879, “Dnieper in the morning” 1881), Abram Arkhipov (“North Sea”, “Landscape. Study with a log house”), “late” impressionist Igor Grabar (“Birch Alley”, 1940, “Winter Landscape”, 1954) .

(Borisov-Musatov "Autumn Song")

The methods and manner of depiction inherent in impressionism took place in the works of such outstanding Russian artists as Borisov-Musatov, Bogdanov Belsky, Nilus. The classical canons of French impressionism in the paintings of Russian artists have undergone some changes, as a result of which this direction has acquired a unique national specificity.

Foreign impressionists

One of the first works executed in the style of impressionism is considered to be Edouard Manet’s painting “Luncheon on the Grass,” which was exhibited to the public in 1860 at the Paris “Salon of the Rejected,” where canvases that did not pass the selection of the Paris Salon of Arts could be dismantled. The painting, painted in a style radically different from the traditional manner of depiction, caused a lot of criticisms and rallied followers of the new artistic movement around the artist.

(Edouard Manet "In the Tavern of Father Lathuile")

The most famous impressionist artists include Edouard Manet (“Bar at the Folies-Bergere”, “Music in the Tuileries”, “Breakfast on the Grass”, “At Father Lathuile’s”, “Argenteuil”), Claude Monet (“Field of Poppies at Argenteuil” ", "Walk to the Cliff in Pourville", "Women in the Garden", "Lady with an Umbrella", "Boulevard des Capucines", series of works "Water Lilies", "Impression. Rising Sun"), Alfred Sisley ("Rural Alley" , “Frost at Louveciennes”, “Bridge at Argenteuil”, “Early Snow at Louveciennes”, “Lawns in Spring”), Pierre Auguste Renoir (“Breakfast of the Rowers”, “Ball at the Moulin de la Galette”, “Dance in the Country”, “Umbrellas”, “Dance at Bougival”, “Girls at the Piano”), Camille Pizarro (“Boulevard Montmartre at Night”, “Harvest at Eragny”, “Reapers Resting”, “Garden at Pontoise”, “Entering the Village of Voisin”) , Edgar Degas (" Dance class", "Rehearsal", "Concert at the Ambassador Cafe", "Opera Orchestra", "Dancers in Blue", "Absinthe Lovers"), Georges Seurat ("Sunday Afternoon", "Cancan", "Nature Models") and others.

(Paul Cezanne "Pierrot and Harlequin"")

Four artists in the 90s of the 19th century created a new direction in art based on impressionism and called themselves post-impressionists (Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec). Their work is characterized by the transmission not of fleeting sensations and impressions from the world around them, but by the knowledge of the true essence of things, which is hidden under their outer shell. Most of them famous works: Paul Gauguin (“A Naughty Joke”, “La Orana Maria”, “Jacob’s Wrestling with an Angel”, “Yellow Christ”), Paul Cezanne (“Pierrot and Harlequin”, “Great Bathers”, “Lady in Blue”), Vincent Van Gogh ( Starlight Night", "Sunflowers", "Irises"), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec ("The Laundress", "Toilet", "Dance Training at the Moulin Rouge").

Impressionism in sculpture

(Auguste Rodin "The Thinker")

Impressionism did not develop as a separate direction in architecture; one can find its individual features and characteristics in some sculptural compositions and monuments. Sculpture this style gives free plastic soft forms, they create amazing game light on the surface of the figures and give some feeling of incompleteness; sculptural characters are often depicted at the moment of movement. To works in in this direction include sculptures of the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin (“The Kiss”, “The Thinker”, “The Poet and the Muse”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “ Eternal spring»), Italian artist and the sculptor Medardo Rosso (figures made of clay and plaster filled with wax to achieve a unique lighting effect: “The Gatekeeper and the Matchmaker,” “The Golden Age,” “Motherhood”), the Russian genius nugget Pavel Trubetskoy (bronze bust of Leo Tolstoy, monument Alexander III In Petersburg).

Impressionism constituted an entire era in French art of the second half of the 19th century V. The hero of the impressionist paintings was light, and the task of the artists was to open people's eyes to the beauty of the world around them. Light and color could best be conveyed with quick, small, voluminous strokes. The impressionistic vision was prepared by the entire evolution of artistic consciousness, when movement began to be understood not only as movement in space, but as universal variability surrounding reality.

Impressionism - (French impressionnisme, from impression - impression), a movement in the art of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. It happened in French painting late 1860s - early 70s. The name “impressionism” arose after the exhibition of 1874, at which C. Monet’s painting “Impression. Rising Sun". At the time of the maturity of impressionism (70s - first half of the 80s), it was represented by a group of artists (Monet, O. Renoir, E. Degas, C. Pissarro, A. Sisley, B. Morisot, etc.), who united for struggle for the renewal of art and overcoming official salon academism and organized 8 exhibitions for this purpose in 1874-86. One of the creators of impressionism was E. Manet, who was not part of this group, but back in the 60s and early 70s. who presented genre works in which he rethought the compositional and painting techniques of the masters of the 16th-18th centuries. applied to modern life, as well as scenes Civil War 1861-65 in the USA, the execution of the Parisian communards, giving them an acute political focus.

The impressionists depicted the world V perpetual motion, transition from one state to another. They began to paint a series of paintings, wanting to show how the same motif changes depending on the time of day, lighting, weather conditions, etc. (cycles “Boulevard Montmartre” by C. Pissarro, 1897; “Rouen Cathedral”, 1893- 95, and "Parliament of London", 1903-04, C. Monet). Artists found ways to reflect the movement of clouds in paintings (A. Sisley. “Loing in Saint-Mamme”, 1882), the play of glare sunlight(O. Renoir. “Swing”, 1876), gusts of wind (C. Monet. “Terrace at Sainte-Adresse”, 1866), streams of rain (G. Caillebotte. “Hierarch. The Effect of Rain”, 1875), falling snow ( C. Pissarro. “Opera passage. The effect of snow”, 1898), rapid running of horses (E. Manet. “Horses in Longchamp”, 1865).

Now that heated debates about the meaning and role of impressionism are a thing of the past, hardly anyone would dare to dispute that the impressionist movement was a further step in the development of European realistic painting. “Impressionism is, first of all, the art of observing reality that has reached unprecedented sophistication.”

Striving for maximum spontaneity and accuracy in conveying the surrounding world, they began to paint mainly in the open air and raised the importance of sketches from nature, which almost replaced the traditional type of painting, carefully and slowly created in the studio.

The Impressionists showed the beauty of the real world, in which every moment is unique. Consistently clarifying their palette, the Impressionists freed painting from earthy and brown varnishes and paints. Conventional, “museum” blackness in their canvases gives way to an infinitely diverse play of reflexes and colored shadows. They immeasurably expanded the possibilities of fine art, opening not only the world of sun, light and air, but also the beauty of London fogs, the restless atmosphere of life big city, the scattering of its night lights and the rhythm of incessant movement.

Due to the very method of working in the open air, the landscape, including the city landscape they discovered, occupied a very important place in the art of the Impressionists.

However, one should not assume that the painting of the Impressionists was characterized only by a “landscape” perception of reality, for which critics often reproached them. The thematic and plot range of their work was quite wide. Interest in man, and in particular in modern life in France, in in a broad sense was characteristic of a number of representatives of this art direction. His life-affirming, fundamentally democratic pathos clearly opposed the bourgeois world order. In this one cannot help but see the continuity of impressionism in relation to the main line of development of French realistic art. art of the 19th century century.

By depicting landscapes and forms using dots of color, the Impressionists questioned the solidity and materiality of the things around them. But the artist cannot be content with one impression; he needs a drawing that organizes complete picture. Since the mid-1880s, a new generation of impressionist artists associated with this art direction has been conducting more and more experiments in their painting, as a result of which the number of directions (varieties) of impressionism is growing, art groups and venues for exhibitions of their work.

Artists of the new movement did not mix various paints on a palette, but wrote in pure colors. By placing a stroke of one paint next to another, they often left the surface of the paintings rough. It was noticed that many colors become brighter when next to each other. This technique is called the contrast effect of complementary colors.

Impressionist artists were sensitive to the slightest changes in the weather, as they worked on location and wanted to create an image of a landscape where the motif, colors, and lighting would merge into a single poetic image urban view or rural areas. The impressionists gave great importance color and light due to pattern and volume. Disappeared clear contours objects, contrasts and chiaroscuro were forgotten. They tried to make the picture look like open window, through which the real world is visible. This a new style influenced many artists of that time.

It should be noted that, like any movement in art, impressionism has its advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantages of Impressionism:

French impressionism didn't pick it up philosophical problems and did not even try to penetrate under the colored surface of everyday life. Instead, impressionism focuses on superficiality, the fluidity of a moment, mood, lighting, or angle of view.

Like the art of the Renaissance (Renaissance), impressionism is built on the characteristics and skills of perceiving perspective. At the same time, the Renaissance vision explodes with the proven subjectivity and relativity of human perception, which makes color and form autonomous components of the image. For impressionism, what is depicted in the picture is not so important, but how it is depicted is important.

Their paintings presented only the positive aspects of life, did not disturb social problems, and avoided such problems as hunger, disease, and death. This later led to a split among the Impressionists themselves.

Advantages of impressionism:

The advantages of impressionism as a movement include democracy. By inertia, art even in the 19th century was considered a monopoly of aristocrats and the upper strata of the population. They were the main customers for paintings and monuments, and they were the main buyers of paintings and sculptures. Scenes with the hard work of peasants, tragic pages modernity, the shameful aspects of wars, poverty, social unrest were condemned, disapproved, and not bought. Criticism of the blasphemous morality of society in the paintings of Theodore Gericault and Francois Millet found response only among supporters of the artists and a few experts.

The Impressionists took quite a compromise, intermediate position on this issue. Biblical, literary, mythological, and historical subjects inherent in official academicism were discarded. On the other hand, they fervently desired recognition, respect, even awards. Indicative is the activity of Edouard Manet, who for years sought recognition and awards from the official Salon and its administration.

Instead, a vision of everyday life and modernity emerged. Artists often painted people in motion, during fun or relaxation, presented the appearance of a certain place under certain lighting, and nature was also the motive of their works. Subjects of flirting, dancing, being in a cafe and theater, boat trips, on beaches and in gardens were taken. Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a series of small holidays, parties, pleasant times outside the city or in a friendly environment (a number of paintings by Renoir, Manet and Claude Monet). The Impressionists were among the first to paint in the air, without finishing their work in the studio.

impressionism manet painting

Impressionism is a movement in painting that originated in France in XIX-XX centuries, which is artistic attempt to capture some moment of life in all its variability and mobility. Impressionist paintings are like a well-washed photograph, reviving in fantasy the continuation of the story seen. In this article we will look at the 10 most famous impressionists peace. Fortunately, talented artists much more than ten, twenty or even a hundred, so let's focus on those names that you definitely need to know.

In order not to offend either the artists or their admirers, the list is given in Russian alphabetical order.

1. Alfred Sisley

This French painter English origin is considered the most famous landscape painter second half of the 19th century. His collection contains more than 900 paintings, of which the most famous are “Rural Alley”, “Frost in Louveciennes”, “Bridge in Argenteuil”, “Early Snow in Louveciennes”, “Lawns in Spring”, and many others.

2. Van Gogh

Known around the world sad story about his ear (by the way, he did not cut off his entire ear, but only the lobe), Wang Gon became popular only after his death. And during his life he was able to sell one single painting, 4 months before his death. They say he was both an entrepreneur and a priest, but often ended up in psychiatric hospitals due to depression, so all the rebellion of his existence resulted in legendary works.

3. Camille Pissarro

Pissarro was born on the island of St. Thomas, into a family of bourgeois Jews, and was one of the few impressionists whose parents encouraged his passion and soon sent him to Paris to study. Most of all, the artist liked nature, he depicted it in all colors, and to be more precise, Pissarro had a special talent for selecting the softness of colors, compatibility, after which air seemed to appear in the paintings.

4. Claude Monet

Since childhood, the boy decided that he would become an artist, despite family prohibitions. Having moved to Paris on his own, Claude Monet plunged into the gray everyday life of a hard life: two years of service in the armed forces in Algeria, litigation with creditors due to poverty and illness. However, one gets the feeling that the difficulties did not oppress, but, on the contrary, inspired the artist to create such bright pictures, like “Impression, Sunrise”, “Houses of Parliament in London”, “Bridge to Europe”, “Autumn in Argenteuil”, “On the Shores of Trouville”, and many others.

5. Konstantin Korovin

It's nice to know that among the French, the parents of impressionism, we can proudly place our compatriot, Konstantin Korovin. A passionate love for nature helped him intuitively give unimaginable liveliness to a static picture, thanks to the connection suitable colors, width of strokes, choice of theme. It is impossible to pass by his paintings “Pier in Gurzuf”, “Fish, Wine and Fruit”, “ Autumn landscape», « Moonlight night. Winter" and a series of his works dedicated to Paris.

6. Paul Gauguin

Until the age of 26, Paul Gauguin did not even think about painting. He was an entrepreneur and had a large family. However, when I first saw the paintings of Camille Pissarro, I decided that I would definitely start painting. Over time, the artist’s style changed, but the most famous impressionistic paintings are “Garden in the Snow”, “At the Cliff”, “On the Beach in Dieppe”, “Nude”, “Palm Trees in Martinique” and others.

7. Paul Cezanne

Cezanne, unlike most of his colleagues, became famous during his lifetime. He managed to organize his own exhibition and earn considerable income from it. People knew a lot about his paintings - he, like no one else, learned to combine the play of light and shadow, placed a strong emphasis on regular and irregular geometric shapes, the severity of the theme of his paintings was in harmony with romance.

8. Pierre Auguste Renoir

Until the age of 20, Renoir worked as a fan decorator for his older brother, and only then moved to Paris, where he met Monet, Basil and Sisley. This acquaintance helped him in the future to take the path of impressionism and become famous on it. Renoir is known as the author of sentimental portraits, among his most outstanding works are “On the Terrace”, “A Walk”, “Portrait of the Actress Jeanne Samary”, “The Lodge”, “Alfred Sisley and His Wife”, “On the Swing”, “Splash Pool” and a lot others.

9. Edgar Degas

If you haven't heard of Blue Dancers, Ballet Rehearsal, Ballet school" and "Absinthe" - hurry up to learn about the work of Edgar Degas. The selection of original colors, unique themes for paintings, a sense of movement of the picture - all this and much more made Degas one of the most famous artists peace.

10. Edouard Manet

Don't confuse Manet with Monet - they are two different people, who worked at the same time and in the same artistic direction. Manet was always attracted to scenes of everyday life, unusual appearances and types, as if accidentally “caught” moments, subsequently captured for centuries. Among famous paintings Manet: “Olympia”, “Luncheon on the Grass”, “Bar at the Folies Bergere”, “The Flutist”, “Nana” and others.

If you have even the slightest opportunity to see the paintings of these masters live, you will forever fall in love with impressionism!

Impressionism(French impressionnisme, from impression - impression) - a movement in art of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries, which originated in France and then spread throughout the world, whose representatives sought to most naturally capture the real world in its mobility and variability, to convey their fleeting impressions .

1. Liberation from the traditions of realism (no mythological, biblical or historical paintings, only modern life).

2. Observation and study of the surrounding reality. Not what it sees, but how it sees from the position of the perceived “visual essence of things”

3. Everyday life modern city. Psychology of a city dweller. Dynamics of life. Pace, rhythm of life.

4. “The effect of an extended moment”

5. Search for new forms. Small size works (studies, framing). Not typical, but random.

6. Seriality of paintings (Monet “Haystacks”)

7. The novelty of the painting system. Open pure color. Relief, a rich collection of reflexes, trepidation.

8. Mixing genres.

Edouard Manet - innovator. From dull dense tones to light painting. Fragmentation of compositions.

"Olympia"- relies on Titian, Giorgione, Goya. Victoria Muran posed. Venus is depicted as a modern cocotte. There is a black cat at my feet. A black woman presents a bouquet. The background is dark, the warm tone of the woman's body is like a pearl on the blue sheets. The volume is disrupted. There is no cut-off modeling.

"Breakfast on the Grass"- model and two artists + landscape + still life. Black frock coats form a contrast with the naked body.

"Flutist"- impression of the music.

"Bar Folies Bergere" - The girl is a bartender. The thrill of a glimpsed moment. The loneliness of a bustling city. The illusion of happiness. I put it on the entire canvas (inaccessible in my thoughts, but accessible to the bar’s clients). A full hall of visitors is an image of the world.

Claude Monet - abandoned the traditional sequence (underpainting, glazing, etc.) - ala prima

"Impression. Rising sun» - fieria yellow, orange, green. The boat is a visual accent. An elusive, unfinished landscape, no contours. Variability of the light-air environment. Rays of light change vision.

"Breakfast on the Grass" - edge of the forest, impression of a picnic , dark green color scheme interspersed with brown and black. The foliage turns out wet. The woman’s clothes and tablecloth are illuminated, filled with air, light through the foliage.

"Boulevard des Capucines in Paris" - fragmentary. Cuts off two people who are looking at the boulevard from the balcony. A crowd of people is the life of the city. Half in the light from the setting sun, and half in the shadow of the building. No visual center, instant impression.

"Rocks at Belle-Ile» - a moving mass of water dominates (thick strokes). Rainbow hues applied vigorously. Rocks are reflected in water, and water is reflected in rocks. Feeling the power of the elements, boiling green-blue water. Composition with a high horizon.

"Gare Saint-Lazare" - the interior of the station is shown, but more interested in the locomotive and steam, which is everywhere (fascination with fog, lilac haze).

Pierre Auguste Renoir- an artist of joy, known primarily as a master of secular portraiture, not devoid of sentimentality.

"Swing"- permeated with a warm color, youth is shown, the girl is impressed.

"Ball at the Moulin de la Gallette" - genre scene. Day. Young people, students, saleswomen, etc. At the tables under the acacia trees there is a platform for dancing. Light shimmers ( sunbeams on their backs).

"Portrait of Jeanne Samary" - flower women. Charming, feminine, graceful, touching, spontaneous actress. Deep eyes, light sunny smile.

"Portrait of Madame Charpentier with Children"- elegant society woman in a black dress with a train and two girls in blue. Tapestries, a table, a dog, parquet flooring - everything speaks of the wealth of the family.

Edgar Degas– did not paint in the open air, the cult of line and drawing. Compositions diagonally (from bottom to top)); S-shaped, spiral figures + window from which lighting + lighting from spotlights. Oil, then bed.

"Ballet Girls", "Dancers"- invades the lives of ballerinas. Strokes connect drawing and painting. Constant rhythm of training.

"Blue Dancers"- no individuality - a single wreath of bodies. In one corner there is still light from the ramps, and in the other there is the shadow of the backstage. Moment of more actresses and ordinary people. Expressive silhouettes, cornflower blue dresses. Fragmentation - the characters do not look at the viewer.

"Apsent" - a man and a woman are sitting in a cafe. Ash range. A man with a pipe looks in one direction, and a drunk woman with a distant look - aching loneliness.

Camille Pissarro - is interested in landscapes, including people and carts in them. Motif of a road with people walking. I loved spring and autumn.

"Entering the village of Voisin"- a dim, soft landscape, trees along the road - frame the entrance, their branches mix, dissolving in the sky. The horse walks slowly and calmly. Houses are not just architectural objects, but dwellings for people (warm nests).

"Opera Passage in Paris"(series) – a gray cloudy day. The roofs are lightly dusted with snow, the pavement is wet, the buildings are drowning in a shroud of snow, passers-by with umbrellas turn into shadows. The color of the humid air is enveloping. Lilac-blue, olive tones. Small strokes.

Alfred Sisley– sought to notice the beauty of nature, the epic tranquility inherent in the rural landscape.

"Frost in Louveciennes" - morning, fresh state, objects bathe in light (merger). No shadows (subtle nuances), yellow-orange colors. A calm corner, not a busy city. A feeling of purity, fragility, love for this place

Impressionism in Russia. develops at a later time and at an accelerated pace than in France

V.A. Serov – indifferent to academic drawing wants to show the beauty of nature in color.

"Girl with Peaches"" - portrait of Verochka Mamontova. Everything is natural and relaxed, every detail is connected to one another. The beauty of a girl's face, poetry lifestyle, light-saturated colorful painting. The beauty and freshness of the sketch, two trends, two forces organically combined, forming a single form of pictorial vision. Everything seems so simple and natural, but there is so much depth and integrity in this simplicity!! With utmost expressiveness, V. Serov conveyed the light pouring like a silver stream from the window and filling the room. The girl is sitting at the table and is not busy with anything, as if she really sat down for a moment, mechanically picked up a peach and holds it, looking at you simply and frankly. But this peace is only momentary, and through it the passion for high-spirited movement peeks through.

"Children"- shows spiritual world children (sons). The older one looks at the sunset, and the younger one faces the viewer. Different outlook on life.

"Mika Morozov"- sits in a chair, but rolls towards the viewer. Children's excitement is conveyed.

"Chorus Girl"- sketchiness. He paints with rich strokes of the brush, broad strokes in the foliage, strokes that are sometimes vertical, sometimes horizontal and of different textures ⇒ dynamism, air and light. A combination of nature and a girl, freshness, spontaneity.

"Paris. Boulevard des Capucines" - motley kaleidoscope of colors. Artificial lighting - entertainment, decorative theatricality.

I.E.Grabar – volitional, emotional beginning.

« February blue» - I saw a birch tree from ground level and was shocked. The chimes of the rainbow are united by the azure sky. The birch is monumental (in the entire canvas).

« March snow» - a girl carries buckets on a yoke, the shadow of a tree on the melted snow.

Impressionism opened a new art - it is important how the artist sees, new forms and methods of presentation. They have a moment, we have a stretch of time; We have less dynamics, more romanticism.

Mane Breakfast on the grass Mane Olympia

Manet "Bar Folies Bergere" Manet Flutist"

Monet "Impression. Rising Sun Monet "Luncheon on the Grass" - "Boulevard des Capucines in Paris"

Monet "Rocks at Belle-Ile"» Monet "Gare Saint-Lazare"

Monet "Boulevard des Capucines in Paris"Renoir"Swing"

Renoir “Ball at the Moulin de la Gallette” Renoir “Portrait of Jeanne Samary”

Renoir "Portrait of Madame Charpentier with Children"

Degas "Blue Dancers" Degas "Apsent"

Pissarro –"Opera Passage in Paris"(series) Pissarro "Entering the village of Voisin»

Sisley “Frost in Louveciennes” Serov “Girl with Peaches”

Serov "Children" Serov "Mika Morozov"

Korovin “Chorist” Korovin “Paris. Boulevard des Capucines"