Impressionist Paintings

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So much has been written about how Impressionist paintings revolutionized the world of art, bringing tremendous awareness and conviction of the originality of the works of these artists. What began as a movement by a bunch of young radical painters in the mid 1870s grew into something that changed the way art was understood and perceived by thousands. That sums up the story of how Impressionist paintings and Impressionist artists were born.

These Impressionist painters contributed richly to the growth of this unconventional art form. For example, Renoir’s interest was in depicting women and children amidst stunning landscapes during which he conceptualized a new form called divisionism. By this form, Renoir omitted black from his palette and used only bright colors, which is a distinct feature of Impressionist art.

Monet would paint the same subject at different times of the day to give the effect of the changing qualities of light and capture the movement of that light. Meanwhile Edgar Degas pioneered the concept of accidental composition. His paintings were about the ballet, horse races and portraits of ordinary people.

By the second half of the 19th century, landscape Impressionist paintings became the most widely produced form of art. Most Impressionist paintings, though severely trashed by art critics of the time, withstood the test of time. This may be attributed to a mix of the fine techniques and the artists’ ability to progress beyond the stodgy and conformist styles of painting from before. They were also revolutionary in their concepts and perception of the way they viewed and experienced life not just their depiction of the world through art.

Path Breaking Techniques in Impressionist Art

Today’s painters continue to be inspired by the techniques used by the spontaneous Impressionist painters like Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Edgar Degas and Manet. Most of their works reflected their interests and attitudes.

Some of their ground breaking techniques are:

• Every day objects, that previously failed to inspire conventional artistic interest, emerged as focus areas of the Impressionists.
• Impressionist artists had a scientific interest in interpreting visual phenomena.
• Black is a color that is never used except by Manet.
• Intricate details are not probed into but Monet was an exception as he used to capture subtle changes in the atmosphere with brilliant clarity.
• Quick, thick strokes comprising vibrant colors are used to create a quick feel and impression of the subject.
• Emphasis of natural light inspired Impressionists to paint outdoors. Monet’s technique of ‘plein air’ painting involved painting outdoor landscapes on site.
• Popular use of pre mixed paints in lead tubes which enabled artists to venture outdoors more frequently.
• Paints, once applied, are never left to dry. The Impressionist technique is to blend in the colors whilst still wet on the canvas.

Clearly, these great artists understood exactly how to reflect color, sunlight, and their spontaneous interpretation to life around them in a way that was far ahead of their times.