Impressionism• An “impression” is a quick

representation of an object, landscape, cityscape, seascape, person or anything.

• EX: first impression of someone (what you think, after briefly meeting, they are like)

•Impressionists were fascinated with the effect of light on color

•Goal: create a quick, light filled, impression of what was in front of them

“Landscape is nothing but an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label that was given us, by the way because of me. I had sent a thing done in Le Havre, from my window, sun in the mist and a few masts of boats sticking up in the foreground....They asked me for a title for the catalogue, it couldn't really be taken for a view of Le Havre, and I said: 'Put Impression.‘ -Monet

“Impression — I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that,

since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it …

and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its

embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.”

–Louis Leroy

Impression Sunrise, 1882

•Used short strokes of brilliant color (STYLE)

•Painted the colors of objects as they appeared at a specific time of day and season of the year

•Impressionists make

light and color

their subject matter

Claude Monet

• Painted solid colors onto the canvas using short strokes (broken color)

• He let the viewer’s eye blend them from a distance– (optical color mixing)

• Loved to work outdoors

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• The more Monet painted outdoors, the more he realized that colors were constantly changing with the moving of the sun or the interruption of clouds or haze

• To analyze these changes, he decided to paint a single subject at different times of day, at different times of year, under different light

• Rouen Cathedral : massive surface of carved stone• You no longer see the carving but the light and color

reflected from different surfaces• Monet recorded this subject more than thirty times

What did Monet discover from painting the same subject over and over again, at different times of

year and under different light?

•Color is affected by the changes in light

Edgar Degas• Created

sketches and went back to his studio to create paintings from the sketches

• Favorite subject: The Ballet

• Liked to paint in series –Explored the subject of the ballet over

and over again• Views are often from

strange vantage points• 1st artist to exhibit

pastels as finished works instead of preliminary sketches

Edgar Degas, The Rehearsal on the Stage, 1874

• Often groups figures or objects to one side creating asymmetrical balance

Edgar Degas, Ballet Rehearsal, 1876

Mary Cassatt

• Influenced by Degas

• Mothers and children were her favorite subject

Mary Cassatt, The Bath, 1892