Definition
Impressionism is an art movement that began in France in the late 19th century. Instead of sharp, precise forms or serious stories, painters captured fleeting moments of light and color that shift with the sunshine and weather, and put them vividly on canvas.
Painters Who Went Outside to Catch Fleeting Light
Painters of the past might sketch outdoors, but they often finished their work slowly and carefully in an indoor studio with steady light. The "right" way to paint was to show mythical gods and great heroes from history, smooth as glass, without a single visible brushstroke.
Impressionist painters built on the earlier tradition of painting outdoors. They hauled heavy easels (the stands that hold a canvas) out into the dazzling sunshine and tried to finish their paintings right there. Why? Out in nature, they saw the colors of the landscape change like magic from moment to moment, following the sun's position and the drifting clouds.
A river in morning light and the same river at a red sunset look like completely different colors. These artists tried to pin down the light and mood of a single moment on canvas, before it sparkled and vanished.
To keep light looking bright and fresh, they didn't mix paints much on the palette. Instead, they dabbed pure colors side by side in short, quick strokes. From far away, the colors blend together in your eyes.
To Be a Little More Precise
To be a little more precise, Impressionism is tied to the times it grew up in, including advances in paint technology. The invention of the camera is also often named as one of the influences. Before, paint was stored in pig bladder bags. Once you poked a hole in one, it was hard to seal again, and the paint dried out fast. Carrying them outdoors was a real hassle.
Then came lightweight paint tubes with screw caps. For the first time, painters could move freely into fields and city streets. Around the same time, photography appeared, recording subjects exactly as they looked.
Some say photography made painters rethink what a painting is for, though people disagree about how big that effect really was. Either way, painters moved beyond copying reality. They found a new path: expressing the artist's own subjective impression of light.
They also noticed that an object's color isn't always the same. It changes with the light. We usually think an apple is red. But in bright sunlight it can look yellowish, and in shade it can turn a bluish purple. They put this idea boldly into their paintings.
Mocked at First as Unfinished Work
Today it's one of the most beloved styles of painting. But when it first appeared, it got heaps of criticism and ridicule. The outlines were blurry and the paint stood out in bumpy strokes, so to people back then it looked like a sketch someone forgot to finish.
The strict judges of the Salon, the official art exhibition that ruled the art world then, rejected their paintings again and again. Fed up, Claude Monet and his friends held their own separate exhibition in 1874.
Monet showed a harbor scene titled Impression, Sunrise. A critic named Louis Leroy, writing in a satirical newspaper, sneered that even wallpaper looked more finished, and that it was just a sloppy "impression." That sarcastic word stuck, and it became the official name: Impressionism.
It started with laughter. But the courage of these painters, who broke the rules and honestly captured the feeling of a moment, became one of the most important stepping stones for modern art to bloom.
Common misconceptions
Impressionist painters were not skilled enough, so they painted sloppy, blurry pictures.
It wasn't a lack of skill. They used rough brushstrokes on purpose, to quickly capture the fleeting changes and sparkle of light that kept disappearing.
Where you meet it
Monet painted the same water lily pond dozens of times, as the light changed from morning to noon to evening.
Renoir painted sunlight flickering through leaves and dropping spots of light onto people's clothes.
In one sentence
It's art that breaks free from fixed rules and fixed ideas about objects, and captures the light and color of a single moment as sunlight keeps changing.