Understanding Impressionism
Impressionistic painting evolved in the mid 19Th Century. It was a time of change in European life, touching all components of life, art, economy, social life, life styles. It was the age of industrial revolution, or as historian Nikolas Pevsner named it the "age of railway," an epoch centered on economy and business. At the same time Historism was challenged by the aggressive Italian movement of futurism; political ideas of socialism and communism acquired ground. The way to realism in art lay open, and was practised and labelled as Realism by artists like Edouard Manet (Luncheon on the Grass, 1863, Muse d'Orsay), Gustave Gourbet (The Atelier, 1855, Muse de Louvre, Paris), and Adolf Menzel (Rolling mill, 1875, National Gallery Berlin).

A group young artists Charles Gleyre, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frdric Bazille, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, and others embraced the challenge that history had provided, and broke the rules of academic painting. They transformed Realism into a subjective realism (sometimes called optical realism), and developed fresh ideas to approach painting. They explored the effects of light (en plein air), emphasised on light in its changing qualities, broken color, rapid brush strokes, open composition, included movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and practiced outdoor painting - all typical characteristics which later became the main features of Impressionism. The group of artist staged their own exhibitions since they were not recognized by the French Academy of Art.

The leaders of the early independent movement were Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, August Renoir, Berthe Morisot, and Mary Cassatt.

Camille Pissarro played a leading part as contributing artist, organizer and theoretician.

Claude Monet was the most radical of the group. The title painting, Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant, 1972) was coined into the name of the movement Impressions by a conservative critic Louis Leroya to ridicule the whole movement, and published in a satiric review in the art journal Le Charivari. August Renoir defended throughout his career his belief in the superiority of intuition over intellect and craftsmanship. Berthe Morisot was an enthusiastic member of the Impressionist group.

Her colleagues praised Morisot's pictorial technique, her loose brush strokes, unfinished backgrounds, and light-infused color, as exemplifying the Impressionist's aesthetic aims.

Mary Cassatt, an unusually cultivated and well-read American woman joined the Impressionist group with joy, finally being able to work in absolute independence. Through her connections she helped to initiate Impressionism to the United States.

Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, although close to the group at the beginning, both fostered their own way: Edgar Degas never gave up the clear outlined form in his painting, Toulouse-Lautrec's main aim was to portrait men in his sinful ambience of entertainment quarters, using more a drawing techniques than clearly executed painting. He became the forerunner of graphic art.

Post-Impressionism outgrew the Impressionism. Many Impressionists in the years after 1880 began to reconsider their earlier approaches, or made important adjustments to them. Regardless of the fundamental similarity of conception, George Seurat, Paul Czanne's, Paul Gauguin's, Sisley Seurat's, Vincent van Gogh's later works differ in fundamental aspects; the elements, and the figures are more solidly and conventionally defined, and composition is more complete and keeps a reflection of nature.

Impressionism is still one of most popular styles in modern times, because stands for drastic change in seeing reality; enhancing beauty through light and color; making reality transparent in a remarkable appealing way.

Bibliography
Die Kunst der franzsischen Impressionisten
by Horst Keller
Herder Verlag - Freiburg, Germany, 1975

Renoir
by Patrick Bade
Studio Edition Ltd, Great Britain, 1989

Pissarro
by Martin Reid
Studio Edition Ltd, Great Britain, 1992

Vom Historismus zum Funktionalismus

by H.G.Evers
Holle Verlag, Baden-Baden, Germany, 1978

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