The Birth of Impressionism

By Charles Moffat - Updated 2007.

IMPRESSIONISM was an art movement that started in the mid-19th century and rose to popularity in the last quarter of the century. The movement was inspired by a variety of factors, including anti-establishment, foreign/asian influences and a desire to paint modern life instead of academic subjects of history and mythology.

Anti-establishment artists such as Gustave Courbet, Jean Francois Millet and Rosa Bonheur had already started to paint real life images (Realism) instead of mythology, fantasy and historical topics, but they were still painting using traditional techniques of applying paint (applying the paint smoothly to the canvas and blending it to create a flat surface). Even artists like Edouard Manet (who began his career as a controversial realist but would later add impressionist touches to his work) tried to keep the surface of his canvas flat and smooth, a technique he eventually abandoned.

Manet's work was instrumental to the start of impressionism, but it was not impressionism. It was identifiably realism, with a few ideas borrowed from Japanese prints. But it was not old Manet who would be the first impressionist. It was young Monet. Claude Monet exhibited his landscape "Impression: Sunrise" in the 1872 Paris Salon which provoked the art critic Louis Leroy to coin the term "Impressionism" in a satiric review published in Le Charivari.

That term "Impressionism" soon took on its own meaning and Monet and his artist friends (who painted in similar styles) eventually created their own Impressionist Exhibition in 1874, which fared poorly but was followed by more exhibitions which started to gather more and more interest.

Eventually French Impressionism would fundamentally change European art as it inspired later movements (neo-impressionism, post-impressionism, etc), spread to other countries and overseas.

So much so that by the 1920s the early impressionists were almost forgotten due to the popularity of other art movements. Eventually in the 1950s Impressionism came back in vogue and Parisien art galleries became overwhelmed by tourists from overseas wanting to see French Impressionism.

Chronology of Events:

1848 - Paul Gauguin is born in Paris.

1869 - Café Guerbois becomes the favorite center of the Impressionists. Monet becomes a regular at the café. Pissarro works at Bougival with Renoir, who has one work accepted by the Salon.

1879 - The fourth Impressionist exhibition in Paris has 15 participants. Manet exhibits two works at the official Salon, though the exhibition is savaged by art critic Joris-Karl Huysmans; all of Cézanne’s entries are rejected. Pissarro invites Paul Gauguin to submit to the group exhibition, and he shows one sculpture and seven paintings.