Impressionism

Impressionism, born in France during the 1870s-1880s, revolutionized Western art by breaking with academic conventions. This movement, embodied by artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Berthe Morisot, is characterized by a desire to capture the immediate impression of light and its effects on subjects. The Impressionists favored painting en plein air, employed rapid and visible brushstrokes, fragmented color, and abandoned strict contours to seize the fleeting nature of everyday moments and atmospheric phenomena.

This new pictorial approach also reflected the social transformations of the modern era, focusing on bourgeois leisure activities, evolving urban landscapes, and scenes of daily life. Initially met with incomprehension and scandal, Impressionism gradually established itself as a crucial stage in the evolution of art, paving the way for the avant-garde movements of the 20th century while celebrating pure visual sensation and the subjectivity of the artistic gaze confronting nature and the modern world.

Artworks

Water Lilies, 1906, by Claude Monet

Claude Monet: Water Lilies

Claude Monet’s Water Lilies perfectly illustrate the revolutionary evolution of modern art toward abstraction. Painted in 1906, this work belongs

ierre-Auguste Renoir, View at Guernsey, 1883, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.601

Auguste Renoir: View at Guernsey

View of Guernsey (1883) testifies to Renoir’s fascination with maritime landscapes during his stay in the Anglo-Norman archipelago. This canvas

Rounded Flower Bed, by Claude Monet, 1876

Claude Monet: Rounded Flower Bed

This work reveals Monet’s consummate art in his representation of the Argenteuil garden, transformed into a true laboratory of Impressionist

In the Garden by Mary Cassatt, 1903-1904

Mary Cassatt: In the Garden

Here is a delightful incarnation of Mary Cassatt’s maternal genius. This intimate scene reveals all the artist’s sophistication in the

Sea and Cliffs (Mer et falaises), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919), c. 1885

Auguste Renoir, Sea and Cliffs

Sea and Cliffs: A Normandy Symphony. This splendid canvas by master Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir instantly transports us to the Normandy

Water Lily Pond by Claude Monet, 1900

Claude Monet: Water Lily Pond

This work immerses us in Claude Monet’s quintessential impressionist universe. “Water Lily Pond” (1900) reveals the painter’s complete mastery in

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