Impressionism

Impressionism is a school that arose and developed in France in the second half of the 19th c. – beginning of the 20th. It spread across whole Europe and brought a real revolution in the art world. The impressionism was an art school that strove to share an impression that would be perceived as something material. 
The aim of an impressionist artist was to “deliver only his own impression from things and not to worry about generally accepted rules”.   He works on a picture right under open sky, makes small touches, uses only pure colours of rainbow,  indenting to convey the whole intensity of light and life itself at one certain moment.
Despite the fact that impressionism was absolutely new school they had some precursors. You can find this tendency in some works of El Greco, Velázquez, Turner, Goya, Turner and Constable. But the main roles were plaid by French artists Corot and Courbet who were the immediate precursors.
First the Word « impressionisme » was  used by a journalist Louis Leroy : his review was published in Le Charivari and was devoted to the first exhibition. The name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, “Impression, Sunrise”. Impressionism was an absolutely new technique that reflects new perception of reality. It was a tendency, which occurred against official art. The whole art culture was represented by the Académie des Beaux-Arts that organised the Salon de Paris – an annual art show; artists whose work displayed in the show won prizes, garnered commissions, and enhanced their prestige. But some younger artists painted in a lighter and brighter manner than painters of the preceding generation, extending further the realism of Gustave Courbet and the Barbizon school. They were more interested in painting landscape and contemporary life than in recreating scenes from history. Each year, they submitted their art to the Salon, only to see the juries reject their best efforts in favour of trivial works by artists working in the approved style. A core group of young realists, Claude Monet, Pierre-AugusteRenoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, who had studied under Charles Gleyre, became friends and often painted together. They soon were joined by Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, and Armand Guillaumin. After seeing the rejected works in 1863, Emperor Napoleon III decreed that the public be allowed to judge the work themselves, and the Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Refused) was organized. While many viewers came only to laugh, the Salon des Refusés drew attention to the existence of a new tendency in art and attracted more visitors than the regular Salon.
As they couldn’t be exhibited at the salon the later part of 1873 Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and Sisley decided to organise  the Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs ("Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers") and show their work an independent exhibition. Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas joined them soon. The first exhibition was held in 1874 from 15th April till 15th May where 30 artist were represented. It didn’t bring any success to the new art and rose perplexity, indignation and mockery.
The second one was in 1876. It collected 20 artists. The third exhibition was in 1877 with 18 participants, 4th – from 10th of April till 11 May 1879, 16 participants, 5th – 1-30th of April 1880, 18 people, 6th – 2th of April till 1 of May 1881, 13 artists, 7th – in March 1882, 9 artists, 8th – the last one- from 15th of May till 15th of June, 17 artist, including neo-impressionists and symbolists. The group which organised the first exhibition gradually came apart duo to internal debates and contradictions. But the new generation of artist came along. Now they are called post-impressionists. The main impressionists were Frédéric Bazille, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley.  

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