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by Dan Burnstein, Staff Writer
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1
History
The first use of the term "Impressionism" dates back to the First Impressionist Exhibition in 1874, in which Claude Monet (1840-1926), one of the movement's founders, exhibited a painting entitled Impression: Sunrise.
Impressionists often paint outdoors and on site (en plein air) instead of in a studio. Artists were mostly unable to paint outdoors until the second half of the 19th century, with the advent of metal tubes for packaging and storing paint. The previous method: pig bladders.
The impressionist attempts to capture the overall feeling (an "impression") of the scene, rather than faithfully reproducing it in all its detail. The early Impressionists were ridiculed by the art establishment for attempting to pass-off blotchy sketches as finished paintings.
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2
Subject
While nature is the key element, impressionist paintings often include evidence of the influence of man in the form of bridges, cityscapes, and even factories in the distance. Parks and gardens are common in impressionist paintings, representing an escape from the city to the beauty of nature and leisure of the outdoors.
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3
Common Motifs
A rowboat on a lake is a common motif in impressionist painting. The fact that the boater does not appear to be posed or aware of the onlooker's presence is also typical of the style.
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4
Composition
Typical of many impressionist paintings is a horizontal composition divided into three planes: foreground, middle ground, and background, the foreground forms and figures being rendered in the greatest detail. This painting is clearly divided into thirds: lake, distant shore, and skyline.
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5
Colors
The impressionist painter uses tenets of color theory to achieve her end. In this case, the complimentary colors blue and orange are used to create reflections and shimmering movement on the surface of the water.
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6
Brushstrokes
Paint is applied to the canvas in short, "loose" brushstrokes that are obvious to the viewer. Adjacent brushstrokes are often of different colors, allowing colors to be mixed by the viewer's eye, rather than on the artist's palette. This method, known as "divisionism," creates the soft, yet expressive quality of the sun-lit sky in this painting.
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Click to see more impressionist art on PaintingsDIRECT.
Other QuickSketches:
Naïve/folk art,
Realism,
Expressionism,
Cubism,
Surrealism,
Pop Art,
Minimalism, and
Abstract Art
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