The 5 best paintings of Impressionism and their AUTHORS

The Impressionism It is one of the most important artistic movements in modern painting, assuming a break with tradition and official exhibitions. A movement that starts from the 1960s nineteenth century, moment in which a group of artists come together to give way to that new movement that wishes to capture the effects of light on objects and the landscape on their canvases. Thus, the Impressionist painters left the studios to paint at plain air or in the open air, organize your own group exhibitions and abandon the traditional circuits organized by the French government.

In this lesson from unPROFESOR.com we offer you a selection of the best Impressionism paintings and their authors so you can learn about the highlights of this extraordinary artistic movement.

Index

1. Sunrise impression (Monet, 1871), one of the Impressionism paintings
2. Breakfast on the grass (Édouard Manet, 1863)
3. The dance class (Degas, 1870-1874)
4. Boulevard Montmartre (Camille Pissarro, 1897)
5. Lunch with the rowers (Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881)

To know the main paintings of Impressionism and their authors, we will start with one of the most iconic and representative works being the one who named the whole movement.

Work of Claude Monet (1840-1926), Sunrise impression It was one of the paintings featured in the group's first exhibition, held in 1874. In addition to Monet, Cezanne, Degas and Pissarro exhibited there. The event took place in a Salon on the Rue de Capucines. With an important attendance, about 3,500 people, but also with a lot of bad reviews and ridicules. Among them that of the critic Loiuse Leroy who, sarcastically, wrote a note in which he stated:

"What does this cloth represent? …, The painting had neither right nor wrong… Impression! Of course it produces an impression… ”.

These phrases were taken by painters to baptize the movement and Monet became one of the leaders. The picture shows a painting of the port of Le Havre, hometown of the painter, at dawn. In the foreground you can see two small rowboats, the rising sun and its reflections in the water. Behind them are the chimneys and the masts of the ships.

Breakfast on the grassIt is the work of other of the great names of Impressionism, Edouard Manet (Paris; January 23, 1832-Ibídem; April 30, 1883). This work is another of the references within the impressionist movement.

The author presented the painting in the Salon des Beaux Arts (the annual exhibition organized by the influential and conservative Academy des Beaux Arts), being rejected by the jury considering it scandalous when presenting a naked woman chatting with two dressed men. After this exhibition, Manet took the work to the exhibition called Salon des Refuses or "exhibition of the rejected".

The hostility towards the work also led critics to come to make fun of Manet's painting. However, Manet is inspired by the old masters and, specifically, by the classics: The Country Concert, of Titian, and The judgment of Paris, by Rafael. But in this painting by Manet, the presence of a naked woman in the midst of clothed men does not seem be inspired by something mythological or allegorical, its objective being to scandalize the viewer and provide a touch of modernity.

Thus, Manet puts aside the conventions and opts for an air of freedom both in the subject and in the technique. Manet ignores perspective and depth, showing strong contrasts between light and shadow.

We continue to know the paintings of Impressionism and their authors to speak, now, of the series entitled as Dance classesby Edgar Degas (Paris, July 19, 1834-ibid., September 27, 1917). It was painted by the artist in the rehearsal rooms of the Paris Opera in the early 1870s, being one of the most classic works of Impressionism.

Edgar Degas started out as a classical artist, copying the old master paintings at the Louvre and in Italy, Holland and Spain, being drawn to Impressionism in the early 1990s. 1870. Degas exhibited in several of the eight Impressionist exhibitions held in 1874, playing a key role in its organization.

On The dance class Degas offers us a modern scene, with bright colors. The closed character of Degas leads him to paint interiors and not seek the plain air. In this series he shows the dancers who made their living by dancing, being a theme, that of the dancers, one of the best selling.

Camille Pissarro (Saint Thomas, July 10, 1830-Paris, November 13, 1903) was not one of the best known Impressionists, but he did have a very important role in the future of the movement. His decisive role in organizing the first independent exhibition of the group, that of 1874, being he the only one who participated in all the Impressionist exhibitions.

His kind personality earned him many friendships and the respect of the other artists in the group. In 1897 Pissarro stayed at the Hotel de Russie in Paris and made a series of 14 paintings of Boulevard Montmartre at different times of the day and at different times during the year. The pictures he always paints from the same position and includes the Boulevard in winter, in spring, in the sun, in the rain and with fog, mist and at dusk.

Pissarro tries to show us the effects of light and time using rough brushstrokes and colors eye-catching, picking up the bright lights of shops, theaters, gas lights, and taxis in one night Parisian.

Within this list of paintings of Impressionism and its painters also stands out The rowers' lunch, one of the classics of Renoir. In it the painter offers us a most contemporary scene, one of the typical scenes of plain air painting. In it you can admire people having fun, Renoir painted the scene with fluid brushstrokes. This lake was one of Renoir's favorite vacation spots. Located north of Chatou / Croissy, it was next to the Fournaise hotel.

The work represents a modern scene and pick up just a fun time and full of charm in which people are having a good time, without further pretense. In the work, Renoir's wife appears with a dog on her lap, and impressionist painters also appear. Gustave Caillebotte and Mary Cassatt. Thus, in painting you can admire three genres: portraiture, still life and landscape. The painting was presented at the seventh impressionist exhibition, held in 1882, receiving good reviews.

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