IMPRESSIONIST painting: general characteristics

The Impressionism It is an artistic movement that, fleeing from the prevailing academicism, sought a certain artistic independence by painting in the open air and renouncing realistic representations. This movement, although recognized as such in the 1870s, took its first steps in the 1950s at the hands of its great figures, Claude Monet and Édouard Manet. In those years, and influenced by Japanese art, the great Prado masters such as Velázquez or Goya, a A growing group of artists managed to hold their first Impressionist painting exhibition in April 1874.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you the characteristics of impressionist painting so that you learn to distinguish its keys and enjoy one of the most emblematic and revolutionary artistic movements in the history of art.

The search for the fleeting impression of the environment and go out into the street to capture the momentary effects of light on objects, abandoning studies and more canons. The classics were a revolution for the rigid standards of critics and academics in France at the end of the 19th century. XIX. The first exhibitions of the Impressionist painters generated a strong rejection, but their works and artistic postulates ended up changing the course of the history of Art, constituting the first step towards

artistic vanguards from the beginning of the 20th century.

Throughout the 19th century, French painters had remained faithful to the traditional tastes marked by the Académie des Beaux-Arts. A rigid institution that selected the works that entered the prestigious Paris Salon. Conventional subjects painted in the prevailing realist style were common in official salons, with no room for Impressionist artists. These, tired by the rigidity imposed on creativity, decided to organize their own independent exhibitions grouped in the Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs ("Cooperative and anonymous association of painters, sculptors and engravers").

Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, among others, held their first exhibition in 1874 at the French photographer Nadar's studio. Among the works exhibited was Impression, rising sunby Claude Monet. A work that Monet painted in 1872 and that received all kinds of criticism, especially that of an art critic, Louis Leroy, who used the term impressionist as a mockery and pejorative, but ironically ended up naming the entire movement. Here you can meet the main impressionist painters from Spain.

The endorsement that writers gave them as Emile zola and the impressionist exhibitions organized by Durand-Ruel in London and New York they ended up giving her the recognition they needed to be known and valued by the general public. As stated by the aforementioned Zola:

«[…] I write precisely these articles to demand that the artists who will undoubtedly be the masters of tomorrow are not persecuted today”

(L’Événement newspaper, April 30, 1866).

As we have already seen, impressionist painting has a series of characteristics that move it away from traditionalism and show us an artistic movement that breaks with the canons. Between the key elements that define impressionist painting we highlight:

1. Plen air paint. Impressionism was not alien to the advances of its time and, born in the middle of the industrial revolution, it took advantage of the freedom that the invention and tubes of paint, as well as the influence of photography, at that time a new technique that made it possible to obtain long-lasting images thanks to the action of light. Both factors facilitated the rise of the call plen air painting, that is, painting in the middle of nature. The painters were able to leave their workshops and try to capture the light of each moment. In this way the light became the main protagonist of the work.
2. The brushstroke. Another characteristic of Impressionist painting is known as impressionist brushstroke. A fast, thick and fragmented brushstroke that breaks the contours of objects so that the optical mixture of juxtaposed pure complementary colors forms on the viewer's retina. The color black loses prominence and almost disappears, with white and light-toned palettes gaining strength. The paintings are flooded with light.
3. Daily life. The mythological, allegorical or historical scenes, typical themes of realistic painting, are relegated to the background and the scenes of modern everyday life, reinterpreting those classic themes with a more current vision. Typical subjects include still lifes, landscapes, portraits of family and friends, and everyday scenes from the countryside or the city.
4. Frames. Another characteristic of impressionist painting comes from the inspiration of photography. This will lead artists to search more natural frames in your compositions. Thus, the Impressionists created asymmetrical compositions that required great planning. Photography not only became an iconographic source, it also served as inspiration technique: from the scientific observation of light to the search for ambiguity and spontaneity visual.
5. Scenery. In addition to some great masters such as Velázquez or Goya and Japanese painting, the Impressionists also had as precursors to English Romantic Landscapers of the 19th Century like Turner or Constable, plus Camille Corot and the Barbizon school.