Painting in impressionism: features, history. Famous impressionist artists. Impressi - The history of impressionism Paintings by artists in the style of impressionism
For me, the impressionism style is, first of all, something airy, ephemeral, inexorably elusive. This is that stunning moment that the eye barely has time to capture and which then remains in the memory for a long time as a moment of highest harmony. The masters of impressionism were famous for their ability to easily transfer this moment of beauty onto canvas, endowing it with tangible sensations and subtle vibrations that, with all reality, arise when interacting with a painting. When you look at the works of outstanding artists of this style, there is always a certain aftertaste of mood.
Impressionism(from impression - impression) is an art movement that originated in France in the late 1860s. Its representatives sought to capture the real world in its mobility and variability in the most natural and unbiased way, and to convey their fleeting impressions. Particular attention was paid to the transmission of color and light. 
The word "impressionism" comes from the title of Monet's painting Impression. Sunrise, presented at the 1874 exhibition. The little-known journalist Louis Leroy in his magazine article called the artists “impressionists” to express his disdain. However, the name stuck and lost its original negative meaning. 
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. Young artists were reproached for “unfinished” and “sloppy painting,” lack of taste and meaning in their work, “an attack on true art,” rebellious sentiments and even immorality. 
Leading representatives of impressionism are Alfred Sisley and Frederic Bazille. Edouard Manet and Eduard Manet exhibited their paintings with them. Joaquin Sorolla is also considered an impressionist. 
Landscapes and scenes from city life are perhaps the most characteristic genres impressionistic painting - painted “in the open air”, i.e. directly from nature, and not on the basis of sketches and preparatory sketches. Impressionists looked closely at nature, noticing colors and shades usually invisible, such as blue in the shadows. 
Their artistic method consisted of decomposing complex tones into their constituent pure colors of the spectrum. The results were colored shadows and pure, light, vibrant painting. The Impressionists applied paint in separate strokes, sometimes using contrasting tones in one area of the painting. The main feature of impressionist paintings is the effect of living flickering of colors. 
To convey changes in the color of an object, the impressionists began to prefer to use colors that mutually reinforce each other: red and green, yellow and purple, orange and blue. These same colors create the effect of consistent contrast. For example, if we look at red for a while and then move our gaze to white, it will appear greenish to us. 
Impressionism did not raise philosophical problems and did not even try to penetrate under the colored surface of everyday life. Instead, artists focus on superficiality, the fluidity of a moment, mood, lighting or angle of view. Their paintings presented only the positive aspects of life, without touching on acute social problems. 
Artists often painted people in motion, while having fun or relaxing. Subjects of flirting, dancing, being in a cafe and theater, boating, on beaches and in gardens were taken. Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a continuous series of small holidays, parties, pleasant pastimes outside the city or in a friendly environment. 
Impressionism left rich heritage in painting. First of all, this is an interest in color problems and non-standard techniques. Impressionism expressed the desire for renewal artistic language and a break with tradition, as a protest against the painstaking technique of the masters classical school. Well, you and I can now admire these magnificent works outstanding artists. 
Today, impressionism is perceived as a classic, but in the era of its formation it was a real revolutionary breakthrough in art. The innovation and ideas of this movement completely changed the artistic perception of art in the 19th and 20th centuries. A modern impressionism in painting he inherits principles that have already become canonical and continues aesthetic searches in the transmission of sensations, emotions and light.
Prerequisites
There are several reasons for the emergence of impressionism; it is a whole complex of prerequisites that led to a real revolution in art. In the 19th century French painting a crisis was brewing; it was due to the fact that “official” criticism did not want to notice and allow various emerging new forms into the galleries. Therefore, painting in impressionism became a kind of protest against the inertia and conservatism of generally accepted norms. Also, the origins of this movement should be sought in the trends inherent in the Renaissance and associated with attempts to convey living reality. The artists of the Venetian school are considered the first progenitors of impressionism, then the Spaniards took this path: El Greco, Goya, Velazquez, who directly influenced Manet and Renoir. He also played a role in the formation of this school. technical progress. Thus, the appearance of photography gave rise to new idea in art it’s about capturing momentary emotions and sensations. It is this instantaneous impression that the artists of the movement we are considering strive to “capture.” The development of the plein air school, which was founded by representatives of the Barbizon school, also had an influence on this trend.
History of impressionism
In the second half of the 19th century in French art a critical situation is developing. Representatives of the classical school do not accept the innovation of young artists and do not allow them to attend the Salon - the only exhibition that opens the way to customers. A scandal broke out when the young Edouard Manet presented his work “Luncheon on the Grass.” The painting aroused the indignation of critics and the public, and the artist was forbidden to exhibit it. Therefore, Manet participates in the so-called “Salon of the Rejected” along with other painters who were not allowed to participate in the exhibition. The work received a huge response, and a circle of young artists began to form around Manet. They gathered in a cafe and discussed problems contemporary art, argued about new forms. A society of painters appears who will be called impressionists after one of Claude Monet’s works. This community included Pissarro, Renoir, Cezanne, Monet, Basil, Degas. The first exhibition of artists of this movement took place in 1874 in Paris and ended, like all subsequent ones, in failure. Actually, impressionism in music and painting covers a period of only 12 years, from the first exhibition to the last, held in 1886. Later, the movement begins to disintegrate into new movements, and some artists die. But this period brought about a real revolution in the minds of creators and the public.
Ideological principles
Unlike many other movements, painting in impressionism was not associated with deep philosophical views. The ideology of this school was momentary experience, impression. The artists did not set themselves social tasks, they sought to convey the fullness and joy of life in everyday life. That's why genre system Impressionism was generally very traditional: landscapes, portraits, still lifes. This direction is not a unification of people based on philosophical views, but a community of like-minded people, each of whom conducts his own quest to study the form of being. Impressionism lies precisely in the uniqueness of the view of ordinary objects; it is focused on individual experience.
Technique
It is quite easy to recognize painting in impressionism by some characteristic features. First of all, it is worth remembering that the artists of this movement were ardent lovers of color. They almost completely abandon black and brown in favor of a rich, bright palette, often heavily bleached. The Impressionist technique is characterized by short strokes. They strive for general impression, and not to careful drawing of details. The canvases are dynamic and intermittent, which corresponds to human perception. Painters strive to place colors on the canvas in such a way as to achieve coloristic intensity or proximity in the picture; they do not mix colors on the palette. Artists often worked plein air, and this was reflected in the technique, which did not have time to dry the previous layers. The paints were applied side by side or one on top of the other, and an opaque material was used, which made it possible to create the effect of an “inner glow.”
Main representatives in French painting
The birthplace of this movement is France; it was here that impressionism first appeared in painting. Artists of this school lived in Paris in the second half of the 19th century. They presented their works at 8 Impressionist exhibitions, and these paintings became classics of the movement. It is the Frenchmen Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, Morisot and others who are the progenitors of the movement we are considering. The most famous impressionist, of course, is Claude Monet, whose works fully embodied all the features of this movement. Also, the movement is rightly associated with the name of Auguste Renoir, who considered his main artistic task to convey the play of the sun; in addition, he was a master of sentimental portraiture. Impressionism also includes such outstanding artists as Van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin.
Impressionism in other countries
Gradually the direction is spreading in many countries, the French experience has been successfully picked up in others national cultures, although they have to talk more about individual works and techniques than about the consistent implementation of ideas. German painting in impressionism is represented primarily by the names of Lesser Ury, Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth. In the USA, ideas were implemented by J. Whistler, in Spain - by H. Sorolla, in England - by J. Sargent, in Sweden - by A. Zorn.
Impressionism in Russia
Russian art in the 19th century was significantly influenced by French culture, therefore domestic artists It was also not possible to avoid being carried away by the new trend. Russian impressionism in painting is most consistently and fruitfully represented in the works of Konstantin Korovin, as well as in the works of Igor Grabar, Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov. The peculiarities of the Russian school were the etude nature of the works.
What was impressionism in painting? The founding artists sought to capture momentary impressions of contact with nature, and Russian creators also tried to convey a deeper, philosophical meaning works.
Impressionism today
Despite the fact that almost 150 years have passed since the emergence of the movement, modern impressionism in painting has not lost its relevance today. Thanks to their emotionality and ease of perception, paintings in this style are very popular and even commercially successful. Therefore, many artists around the world are working in this direction. Thus, Russian impressionism in painting is presented in the new Moscow museum of the same name. Exhibitions are held there regularly modern authors, for example V. Koshlyakov, N. Bondarenko, B. Gladchenko and others.
Masterpieces
Modern lovers visual arts Impressionism in painting is often called their favorite direction. Paintings by artists of this school are sold at auctions at incredible prices, and collections in museums enjoy great public attention. The main masterpieces of impressionism are considered to be paintings by K. Monet “Water Lilies” and “ Rising Sun”, O. Renoir “Ball at the Moulin de la Galette”, C. Pissarro “Boulevard Montmartre at night” and “Boieldieu Bridge in Rouen on a rainy day”, E. Degas “Absinthe”, although this list can be continued almost endlessly.
Impressionism (impressionnisme) is a painting style that appeared at the end of the 19th century in France and then spread throughout the world. The very idea of impressionism lies in its name: impression - impression. Artists who were tired of traditional academic painting techniques, which, in their opinion, did not convey all the beauty and liveliness of the world, began to use completely new techniques and methods of image, which were supposed to express in the most accessible form not a “photographic” appearance, but an impression from what he saw. In his painting, the impressionist artist, using the nature of the strokes and color palette, tries to convey the atmosphere, warmth or cold, strong wind or peaceful silence, a foggy rainy morning or a bright sunny afternoon, as well as your personal experiences from what you saw.
Impressionism is a world of feelings, emotions and fleeting impressions. What is valued here is not external realism or naturalness, but rather the realism of the expressed sensations, the internal state of the picture, its atmosphere, and depth. Initially this style came under strong criticism. The first Impressionist paintings were exhibited at the Parisian “Salon of Les Misérables,” where works by artists rejected by the official Paris Salon of Arts were exhibited. The term “impressionism” was first used by critic Louis Leroy, who wrote a disparaging review in the magazine “Le Charivari” about an exhibition of artists. As the basis for the term, he took Claude Monet’s painting “Impression. Rising Sun". He called all the artists impressionists, which can be roughly translated as “impressionists.” At first, the paintings were indeed criticized, but soon more and more fans of the new art direction began to come to the salon, and the genre itself turned from a rejected one to a recognized one.
It is worth noting that the artists late XIX centuries in France they did not come up with a new style out of nowhere. They took as a basis the techniques of painters of the past, including artists of the Renaissance. Painters such as El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Rubens, Turner and others, long before the emergence of impressionism, tried to convey the mood of a picture, the liveliness of nature, the special expressiveness of the weather with the help of various intermediate tones, bright or, on the contrary, dull strokes that looked like abstract things. They used it quite sparingly in their paintings, so unusual technique did not catch the viewer's eye. The Impressionists decided to take these image methods as the basis for their works.
Another specific feature of the works of the Impressionists is a certain superficial everydayness, which, however, contains incredible depth. They do not try to express any deep philosophical themes, mythological or religious problems, historical and important events. The paintings of artists of this movement are inherently simple and everyday - landscapes, still lifes, people walking down the street or going about their normal business, and so on. It is precisely such moments, where there is no excessive thematic content that distracts a person, that feelings and emotions from what they see come to the fore. Also the Impressionists, according to at least at the beginning of its existence, they did not depict “heavy” topics - poverty, wars, tragedies, suffering, and so on. Impressionist paintings are most often the most positive and joyful works, where there is a lot of light, bright colors, smoothed light and shade, smooth contrasts. Impressionism is a pleasant impression, joy from life, the beauty of every moment, pleasure, purity, sincerity.
The most famous impressionists were such great artists as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro and many others.
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Alfred Sisley - Lawns in Spring
Camille Pissarro - Boulevard Montmartre. Afternoon, sunny.
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’s 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 most naturally and impartially capture the real world in its mobility and variability, to convey their 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 the contrast of 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 autumn watching his teacher paint studies 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 Velasquez, 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 movements in French art of the 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 France in the 19th century, 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 immediate 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 real world by conveying not its photographic appearance, but through the prism of the authors’ impressions and emotions 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 expressiveness of weather conditions 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 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 of fine art, which are 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 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. Classical canons French impressionism The paintings of Russian artists underwent some changes, as a result of which this direction 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 in Louveciennes”, “Bridge at Argenteuil”, “Early Snow in 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. This style gives the sculpture free plasticity of 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).
