Impressionism 

Impressionism can be called the first modern movement in painting.  Impressionism came about when it was created by a group of artists named The Anonymous Society of painting, sculptors, print makers etc who were later nicknamed ''The Impressionists''. The groups founding members included Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissaro, among others. The group of artists rejected the official, government-sanctioned exhibitions or salons and they were constantly shunned by powerful academic art institutions and they decided to gain independence and organised their own exhibition in Paris in 1874 to showcase their paintings. The term ''Impressionist'' was first used by the French critic Louis Leroy in 1874 who was criticising Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise. Leroy had found that the term was fitting to describe the paintings loose, undefined and unfinished style that Monet and several other artists applied to their paintings.  Impressionist painters wanted to break away from the traditional rules of subject matter, technique and composition of painting and created their own unique style and opened their minds to experimenting. In their attempts to capture a moment they discarded detail in favour of the overall effect of the painting. They looked at their subjects from unusual angles and often cropped or framed their work in a way that was new to painting. The Impressionists chose to paint ordinary scenes from everyday life, nature, people and still lives. The Impressionists avoiding using sombre tones such as black and earthy toned colours and instead used light, vibrant colours to give their paintings luminosity and to capture the changing effect of sunlight on the scenes they painted, they also used bright contrasting colours without mixing or blending. The Impressionists used quick, sketchy brush strokes and gave the painting an unfinished appearance.  

II, 2013. Impressionism info. [Online] Available at: <http://www.impressionism.info/info.html>

[Accessed 21st April 2013]

Heilbrunn timeline of art history, 2013. Metmusem. [Online] Available at:<http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/imml/hd_imml.htm> 

[Accessed 21st April 2013]