Impressionism style: paintings by famous artists. History Current impressionism

Impressionism Impressionism

(French impressionnisme, from impression - impression), a movement in art of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. It developed in French painting in the late 1860s - early 70s. The name “impressionism” arose after the exhibition of 1874, at which the painting “Impression” by C. Monet was exhibited. Rising Sun"("Impression. Soleil levant", 1872, now in the Marmottan Museum, Paris). At the time of maturity of impressionism (70s - first half of 80s) it was represented by a group of artists (Monet, O. Renoir, E. Degas , C. Pissarro, A. Sisley, B. Morisot, etc.), who united to fight for the renewal of art and to overcome official salon academism and organized 8 exhibitions for this purpose in 1874-86. One of the creators of impressionism was E. Manet, not. was part of this group, but back in the 60s and early 70s he produced genre works in which he rethought the compositional and painting techniques of the masters of the 16th-18th centuries in relation to modern life, as well as scenes of the Civil War of 1861-65. USA, the execution of the Parisian communards, giving them an acute political focus.

Impressionism continues what was started by the realistic art of the 40-60s. liberation from the conventions of classicism, romanticism and academicism, affirms the beauty of everyday reality, simple, democratic motives, and achieves living authenticity of the image. He makes authentic, modern life aesthetically significant in its naturalness, in all the richness and sparkle of its colors, capturing the visible world in its inherent constant variability, recreating the unity of man and his environment. In many paintings by the Impressionists (especially in landscapes and still lifes, a number of multi-figure compositions), the passing moment of the continuous flow of life, as if accidentally caught by the eye, is emphasized, the impartiality, strength and freshness of the first impression are preserved, allowing one to capture the unique and characteristic in what is seen. The works of the Impressionists are distinguished by their cheerfulness and enthusiasm for the sensual beauty of the world, but in a number of works by Manet and Degas there are bitter, sarcastic notes.

The Impressionists created a multifaceted painting for the first time Everyday life modern city, captured the originality of its landscape and the appearance of the people inhabiting it, their life, work and entertainment. In landscape, they (especially Sisley and Pissarro) developed the plein air quests of J. Constable, the Barbizon school, C. Corot and others, and developed a complete plein air system. In impressionist landscapes, a simple, everyday motif is often transformed by a pervasive, mobile sunlight, bringing a sense of festivity to the picture. Working on a painting directly in the open air made it possible to reproduce nature in all its vibrant real life, to subtly analyze and capture its transitional states, to capture the slightest changes in color that appear under the influence of a vibrating and fluid light-air environment (organically uniting man and nature), which becomes Impressionism an independent object images (mainly in the works of Monet). To preserve the freshness and variety of natural colors in their paintings, the Impressionists (with the exception of Degas) created a painting system that is distinguished by the decomposition of complex tones into pure colors and the interpenetration of clear separate strokes of pure color, as if mixing in the viewer’s eye, light and bright color scheme, a wealth of values ​​and reflexes, colored shadows. Volumetric forms seem to dissolve in the light-air shell that envelops them, dematerialize, and acquire unsteady outlines: the play of various brushstrokes, impasto and liquid, gives the paint layer tremulousness and relief; thereby creating a peculiar impression of incompleteness, the formation of an image before the eyes of a person contemplating the canvas. In this way, a rapprochement between the sketch and the painting occurs, and often a merging of several. stages of work into one continuous process. The picture becomes a separate frame, a fragment of the moving world. This explains, on the one hand, the equivalence of all parts of the picture, simultaneously born under the artist’s brush and equally participating in the figurative construction of the works, on the other hand, the apparent randomness and imbalance, asymmetry of the composition, bold cuts of figures, unexpected points of view and complex angles that activate the spatial construction.

In certain techniques of constructing composition and space in impressionism, the influence of Japanese prints and partly photographs.

The impressionists also turned to portraits and the everyday genre (Renoir, B. Morisot, partly Degas). The domestic genre and nudes in impressionism were often intertwined with landscapes (especially in Renoir); human figures illuminated by natural light were usually depicted near an open window, in a gazebo, etc. Impressionism is characterized by a mixture everyday genre with a portrait, a tendency to blur clear boundaries between genres. Since the beginning of the 80s. some masters of impressionism in France sought to modify its creative principles. Late impressionism (mid-80s - 90s) developed during the period of the formation of the Art Nouveau style and various directions of post-impressionism. Late impressionism is characterized by the emergence of a sense of subjective self-worth artistic manner artist, the growth of decorative trends. The play of shades and additional tones in a work of impressionism becomes more and more sophisticated, and a tendency toward greater color saturation of the canvases or tonal unity appears; landscapes are combined into series.

The painting style of impressionism had a great influence on French painting. Certain features of impressionism were adopted by salon-academic painting. For a number of artists, studying the method of impressionism became the initial stage on the path to developing their own artistic system (P. Cezanne, P. Gauguin, V. van Gogh, J. Seurat).

A creative appeal to impressionism, the study of its principles was an important step in the development of many national European art schools. Under the influence of French impressionism, the work of M. Lieberman, L. Corinth in Germany, K. A. Korovin, V. A. Serov, I. E. Grabar and the early M. F. Larionov in Russia, M. Prendergast and M. Cassatt developed in the USA, L. Wyczulkovsky in Poland, Slovenian impressionists, etc. At the same time, only certain aspects of impressionism were picked up and developed outside of France: an appeal to modern themes, the effects of plein air painting, lightening the palette, sketchy painting manner, etc. The term “Impressionism” is also applied to sculpture of the 1880-1910s, which has some features similar to impressionist painting - the desire to convey instantaneous movement, fluidity and softness of forms, deliberate plastic incompleteness. Impressionism in sculpture was most clearly manifested in the works of M. Rosso in Italy, O. Rodin and Degas in France, P. P. Trubetskoy and A. S. Golubkina in Russia, etc. Certain techniques of impressionism were preserved in many realistic movements of art of the 20th century. Impressionism in the fine arts influenced the development of expressive means in literature, music and theater.

C. Pissarro. "Mail coach at Louveciennes." Around 1870. Museum of Impressionism. Paris.

(Source: “Popular art encyclopedia.” Edited by V.M. Polevoy; M.: Publishing house " Soviet encyclopedia", 1986.)

(French impressionnisme, from impression - impression), a direction in the art of con. 1860 – early 1880s Most clearly manifested in painting. Leading representatives: K. Monet, ABOUT. Renoir, TO. Pissarro, A. Guillaumin, B. Morisot, M. Cassatt, A. Sisley, G. Caillebotte and J. F. Bazille. E. exhibited his paintings with them. Manet and E. Degas, although the style of their works cannot be called completely impressionistic. The name “Impressionists” was assigned to a group of young artists after their first joint exhibition in Paris (1874; Monet, Renoir, Pizarro, Degas, Sisley, etc.), which caused furious indignation among the public and critics. One of the presented paintings by C. Monet (1872) was called “Impression. Sunrise” (“L’impression. Soleil levant”), and the reviewer mockingly called the artists “impressionists” - “impressionists.” The painters performed under this name at the third joint exhibition (1877). At the same time, they began to publish the Impressionist magazine, each issue of which was dedicated to the work of one of the group members.

The impressionists sought to capture the world in its constant variability, fluidity, to impartially express your immediate impressions. Impressionism was based on the latest discoveries in optics and color theory (the spectral decomposition of a solar ray into seven colors of the rainbow); in this he is in tune with the spirit of scientific analysis characteristic of con. 19th century However, the impressionists themselves did not try to determine theoretical basis of his art, insisting on the spontaneity and intuitiveness of the artist’s creativity. The artistic principles of the Impressionists were not uniform. Monet painted landscapes only in direct contact with nature, in the open air (on plein air) and even built a workshop in a boat. Degas worked in the workshop from memories or using photographs. Unlike representatives of later radical movements, artists did not go beyond the Renaissance illusory-spatial system based on the use of direct prospects. They firmly adhered to the method of working from life, which they elevated to the main principle of creativity. Artists sought to “paint what you see” and “the way you see.” The consistent application of this method entailed the transformation of all the foundations of the existing pictorial system: color, composition, spatial construction. Pure paints were applied to the canvas in small separate strokes: multi-colored “dots” lay side by side, mixing into a colorful spectacle not on the palette or on the canvas, but in the viewer’s eye. The Impressionists achieved an unprecedented sonority of color and an unprecedented richness of shades. The brushstroke became an independent means of expression, filling the surface of the painting with a living, shimmering vibration of color particles. The canvas was likened to a mosaic shimmering with precious colors. In previous paintings, black, gray, brown shades; In the paintings of the Impressionists, the colors shone brightly. The Impressionists did not use chiaroscuro to convey volumes, they abandoned dark shadows; the shadows in their paintings also became colored. Artists widely used additional tones (red and green, yellow and violet), the contrast of which increased the intensity of the color sound. In Monet's paintings, colors lightened and dissolved in the radiance of rays of sunlight, local colors acquired many shades.

The impressionists depicted the world around us in perpetual motion, transition from one state to another. They began to paint a series of paintings, wanting to show how the same motif changes depending on the time of day, lighting, weather conditions, etc. (cycles “Boulevard Montmartre” by C. Pissarro, 1897; “Rouen Cathedral”, 1893- 95, and "Parliament of London", 1903-04, C. Monet). Artists found ways to reflect in their paintings the movement of clouds (A. Sisley. “Loing in Saint-Mamme”, 1882), the play of glare of sunlight (O. Renoir. “Swing”, 1876), gusts of wind (C. Monet. “Terrace in Sainte-Adresse", 1866), streams of rain (G. Caillebotte. "Hierarch. The Effect of Rain", 1875), falling snow (C. Pissarro. "Opera Passage. The Effect of Snow", 1898), rapid running of horses (E. Manet . "Racing at Longchamp", 1865).

The Impressionists developed new principles of composition. Previously, the space of a painting was likened to a stage; now the captured scenes resembled a snapshot, a photographic frame. Invented in the 19th century. photography had a significant influence on the composition of impressionistic paintings, especially in the work of E. Degas, who himself was a passionate photographer and, in his own words, sought to take the ballerinas he depicted by surprise, to see them “as if through a keyhole,” when their poses, body lines natural, expressive and authentic. Creating paintings in the open air, the desire to capture rapidly changing lighting forced artists to speed up their work, painting “alla prima” (in one go), without preliminary sketches. Fragmentation, “randomness” of the composition and dynamic painting style created a feeling of special freshness in the paintings of the Impressionists.

The favorite impressionistic genre was landscape; the portrait also represented a kind of “landscape of a face” (O. Renoir. “Portrait of the Actress J. Samary”, 1877). In addition, artists significantly expanded the range of painting subjects, turning to topics previously considered unworthy of attention: folk festivals, horse races, picnics of artistic bohemia, the backstage life of theaters, etc. However, their paintings do not have a developed plot or detailed narration; human life is dissolved in nature or in the atmosphere of the city. The impressionists painted not events, but moods, shades of feelings. The artists fundamentally rejected historical and literary themes, avoided portraying dramatic, dark sides life (war, disaster, etc.). They sought to free art from the fulfillment of social, political and moral tasks, from the obligation to evaluate the depicted phenomena. Artists sang the beauty of the world, being able to turn the most everyday motif (room renovation, gray London fog, steam locomotive smoke, etc.) into an enchanting spectacle (G. Caillebotte. “Parquet Boys”, 1875; C. Monet. “Gare Saint-Lazare” , 1877).

In 1886, the last exhibition of the Impressionists took place (O. Renoir and C. Monet did not participate in it). By this time, significant disagreements had emerged between group members. The possibilities of the impressionist method were exhausted, and each of the artists began to look for their own path in art.
Impressionism as a holistic creative method was a phenomenon predominantly French art, however, the work of the Impressionists influenced all European painting. The desire for renewal artistic language, brightening the colorful palette, exposing painting techniques have now firmly entered the arsenal of artists. In other countries, J. Whistler (England and the USA), M. Lieberman, L. Corinth (Germany), and H. Sorolla (Spain) were close to impressionism. Many Russian artists experienced the influence of impressionism (V.A. Serov, K.A. Korovin, I.E. Grabar and etc.).
In addition to painting, impressionism was embodied in the work of some sculptors (E. Degas and O. Rodin in France, M. Rosso in Italy, P.P. Trubetskoy in Russia) in lively free modeling of fluid soft forms, which creates a complex play of light on the surface of the material and a feeling of incompleteness of the work; the poses capture the moment of movement and development. In music, the works of C. Debussy ("Sails", "Mists", "Reflections in Water", etc.) are close to impressionism.

(Source: “Art. Modern illustrated encyclopedia.” Edited by Prof. Gorkin A.P.; M.: Rosman; 2007.)

See what “Impressionism” is in other dictionaries:

IMPRESSIONISM. I. in literature and art is defined as a category of passivity, contemplation and impressionability, applicable to one degree or another to artistic creativity at all times or periodically, in one form or another... ... Literary encyclopedia

impressionism- a, m. impressionisme m. The doctrine of impressionist painters. Bulgakov Hood. ence. A movement in art that aims to convey direct, subjective impressions of reality. Ush. 1934. Why, for example, the great... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

- [fr. impressionnisme Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Impressionism- IMPRESSIONISM. The end of the 19th century is associated with the flourishing of impressionism in all areas of art, especially in painting and literature. The term impressionism itself comes from the French word impression, which means impression. Underneath this... ... Dictionary literary terms

- (from the French impression impression), a direction in art of the last third of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It developed in French painting in the 1860s and early 70s. (E. Manet, C. Monet, E. Degas, O. Renoir, C. Pissarro, A. Sisley). Impressionism claimed... ... Modern encyclopedia

- (from French impression impression) direction in art of the last third of the 19th century. 20th centuries, whose representatives sought to capture in the most natural and unbiased way real world in its mobility and variability, to convey its fleeting... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Impressionism is a movement in painting that originated in France in XIX-XX centuries, which is an artistic attempt to capture some moment of life in all its variability and mobility. Impressionist paintings are like a well-washed photograph, reviving in fantasy the continuation of the story seen. In this article we will look at the 10 most famous impressionists peace. Fortunately, talented artists much more than ten, twenty or even a hundred, so let's focus on those names that you absolutely need to know.

In order not to offend either the artists or their admirers, the list is given in Russian alphabetical order.

1. Alfred Sisley

This French painter English origin considered the most famous landscape painter of the second half of the 19th century century. His collection contains more than 900 paintings, of which the most famous are “Rural Alley”, “Frost in Louveciennes”, “Bridge in Argenteuil”, “Early Snow in Louveciennes”, “Lawns in Spring”, and many others.

2. Van Gogh

Known around the world sad story about his ear (by the way, he did not cut off his entire ear, but only the lobe), Wang Gon became popular only after his death. And during his life he was able to sell one single painting, 4 months before his death. They say he was both an entrepreneur and a priest, but often ended up in psychiatric hospitals due to depression, so all the rebellion of his existence resulted in legendary works.

3. Camille Pissarro

Pissarro was born on the island of St. Thomas, into a family of bourgeois Jews, and was one of the few impressionists whose parents encouraged his passion and soon sent him to Paris to study. Most of all, the artist liked nature, he depicted it in all colors, and to be more precise, Pissarro had a special talent for choosing the softness of colors, compatibility, after which air seemed to appear in the paintings.

4. Claude Monet

Since childhood, the boy decided that he would become an artist, despite family prohibitions. Having moved to Paris on his own, Claude Monet plunged into gray everyday life hard life: two years of service in the armed forces in Algeria, litigation with creditors due to poverty, illness. However, one gets the feeling that the difficulties did not oppress, but, on the contrary, inspired the artist to create such vivid paintings as “Impression, Sunrise”, “Houses of Parliament in London”, “Bridge to Europe”, “Autumn in Argenteuil”, “On the Shore” Trouville", and many others.

5. Konstantin Korovin

It's nice to know that among the French, the parents of impressionism, we can proudly place our compatriot, Konstantin Korovin. A passionate love for nature helped him intuitively give unimaginable liveliness to a static picture, thanks to the combination of suitable colors, the width of strokes, and the choice of theme. It is impossible to pass by his paintings “Pier in Gurzuf”, “Fish, Wine and Fruit”, “Autumn Landscape”, “ Moonlight night. Winter" and a series of his works dedicated to Paris.

6. Paul Gauguin

Until the age of 26, Paul Gauguin did not even think about painting. He was an entrepreneur and had a large family. However, when I first saw the paintings of Camille Pissarro, I decided that I would definitely start painting. Over time, the artist’s style changed, but the most famous impressionistic paintings are “Garden in the Snow”, “At the Cliff”, “On the Beach in Dieppe”, “Nude”, “Palm Trees in Martinique” and others.

7. Paul Cezanne

Cezanne, unlike most of his colleagues, became famous during his lifetime. He managed to organize his own exhibition and earn considerable income from it. People knew a lot about his paintings - he, like no one else, learned to combine the play of light and shadow, placed a strong emphasis on regular and irregular geometric shapes, the severity of the theme of his paintings was in harmony with romance.

8. Pierre Auguste Renoir

Until the age of 20, Renoir worked as a fan decorator for his older brother, and only then moved to Paris, where he met Monet, Basil and Sisley. This acquaintance helped him in the future to take the path of impressionism and become famous on it. Renoir is known as the author of sentimental portraits, among his most outstanding works are “On the Terrace”, “A Walk”, “Portrait of the Actress Jeanne Samary”, “The Lodge”, “Alfred Sisley and His Wife”, “On the Swing”, “The Paddling Pool” and a lot others.

9. Edgar Degas

If you haven't heard anything about " Blue dancers", "Ballet rehearsals", "Ballet school" and "Absinthe" - hurry up to learn about the work of Edgar Degas. The selection of original colors, unique themes for paintings, a sense of movement of the picture - all this and much more made Degas one of the most famous artists peace.

10. Edouard Manet

Do not confuse Manet with Monet - these are two different people who worked at the same time and in the same artistic direction. Manet was always attracted to scenes of everyday life, unusual appearances and types, as if accidentally “caught” moments, subsequently captured for centuries. Among Manet’s famous paintings: “Olympia”, “Luncheon on the Grass”, “Bar at the Folies Bergere”, “The Flutist”, “Nana” and others.

If you have even the slightest opportunity to see the paintings of these masters live, you will forever fall in love with impressionism!

Alexandra Skripkina,

Many of Manet’s quests were picked up and developed by a group of artists who entered the history of art under the name of the Impressionists. Impressionism, the last major artistic movement in 19th-century art, originated in France in the 1860s. Its name comes from the French word impression - impression. This was the name of the landscape by Claude Monet (“Impression. Sunrise”, 1872), shown in 1874 along with the works of other young French artists at the exhibition of "independents" in Nadar's photographic studio in Paris. This was the first exhibition of the Impressionists, although by that time the leading representatives of Impressionism were already fully formed artists.
Impressionism is a complex artistic phenomenon, which to this day often evokes conflicting assessments. This is partly explained by the fact that artists with a pronounced individuality, often with very dissimilar creative quests, were associated with him. However, some important common features make it possible to unite a number of masters of French fine art (as well as literature and music) into a single movement.
Impressionism arose in the depths of French realistic art. Young representatives of this movement called themselves followers of Courbet. Like realism of the mid-19th century, impressionism, especially in the first stages of its development, was hostilely opposed to official academic art. Impressionist artists were rejected by the Salon, and their art faced fierce attacks from official criticism.
Following the masters of realism of the mid-century, the impressionists opposed the deathly, detached from life of academic art. They considered their main task to be the depiction of modern reality in its various individual manifestations. They tried to capture the simplest motifs of modern life and nature, which had rarely attracted the attention of artists before. Protesting against the dryness and abstraction of academic art, against its conventional cliches and schemes, the impressionists sought to convey all the freshness of their immediate impressions of reality, the colorful richness of the visible world, its diversity and variability. Hence the search for something new, characteristic of impressionism. creative method, development of some new tools artistic expression. This is, first of all, a unique understanding of composition, free, spontaneous, as if random, an interest in conveying the dynamics of the surrounding world, and finally, Special attention to pictorial problems, to the transmission of light and air. By making it a mandatory requirement to work on a player, the Impressionists enriched painting with many coloristic achievements, overcame the conventionality of the colorful range characteristic of most of their predecessors, and achieved great success in the transmission of the light-air environment, the effect of light on color. All this gives impressionist painting freshness and colorful richness.
However, while paying tribute to the indisputable realistic achievements of the impressionists, one cannot fail to note the limitations of their worldview and method. The very approach of the impressionists to depicting reality was fraught with the danger of sliding along the surface of phenomena, of abandoning large life and, especially, social generalizations. Striving first of all to most directly convey the world around them, the impressionists attach leading importance to the visual impression. The recording of fleeting, fugitive visual sensations in their work achieves amazing authenticity, but it sometimes replaces a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the world. Therefore, although the art of impressionism is enriched with new subjects and motifs, it no longer solves large themes of high social significance. The Impressionists perfectly conveyed nature, filled with sun and air, the rainbow shimmer of colors and the play of light; they captured on their canvases the captivating colors and dynamics of modern life; they discovered the artistic value of many motives of reality; but they proved unable to express the advanced democratic ideals of their time. Social and sometimes psychological problems cease to interest these artists, and their art loses the active social significance that progressive romanticism and democratic realism had in France. Therefore, already in connection with impressionism, we can talk about elements of the crisis of realistic art, which is deprived of truly democratic content and critical acuity.
The ideological limitations of this movement were main reason the short duration of its heyday. The rise of Impressionism dates back to the 1870s and early 1880s. In 1886, the last exhibition of the Impressionists took place, but even before that, significant differences had emerged in the group. And although in the future many prominent masters of impressionism still continue to work, they either move away from the principles of this movement, experiencing dissatisfaction with its limitations (Renoir), or no longer create anything fundamentally new. For the crisis that impressionism has been experiencing since the mid-1880s, it is indicative, in particular, that many of the achievements of this movement, taken to extremes, turn into their opposite. At this time, some artists, increasingly indifferent to the content of their art, devoted all their efforts to pictorial and technical quests, often combining them with decorative trends (C. Monet). The desire to convey sunlight as accurately as possible leads them to excessively brighten the palette, and the desire to capture the vibration of the air leads to the abuse of the system of separate strokes. Persistent technical research in the field of light and color is often carried out to the detriment of plastic form and design. Many impressionists, abandoning the subject-based thematic painting, come to the etude, neglecting the finished, thoughtful, holistic composition.
By 1886, all the problems put forward by impressionism had been solved. Further development in the sphere of narrow tasks this direction was impossible; it urgently required the formulation of new large themes, deeper problems, as well as greater breadth and diversity of the creative method.
Having originated and reached its fullest flowering in France, from the late 1880s, impressionism became widespread in other countries, where many prominent artists joined this movement.
Edgar Degas. The largest French artist of this time, Edgar Degas (1834-1917), was closely associated with impressionism. He was one of the organizers and participants of almost all impressionist exhibitions. However, Degas occupies a special place in this movement. It is related to impressionism by the desire to capture the dynamics of modern life, interest in the transmission of light, and some pictorial and coloristic quests. At the same time, much of the Impressionist method was deeply alien to him. In particular, he disapproved of their commitment to visual impression, considering their approach to reality too passive. Degas denied working on a player and created almost all of his paintings in the studio. Summarizing his observations of nature, the artist always sought to convey its essence and character. “It is impossible to imagine art less directly than mine,” said Degas. “My work is the result of reflection, study of the masters, it is a matter of inspiration, character, patient observation.”
Degas went through academic school in LaMotte's workshop. The passion for Ingres and Poussin affected many early works artist, solved in a classicist spirit (“Competition of Spartan youths and girls”, 1860, London, National Gallery). Already in these paintings, Degas’s inherent mastery of drawing, interest in conveying movement, as well as the desire to update academic painting keen observation of nature. Subsequently, Degas turns exclusively to the depiction of modern life. Characteristics Degas's mastery was first manifested in his portraits, many of which can be called among the best examples of realistic portraiture of modern times. They convey models truthfully and accurately, they are distinguished by the seriousness and subtlety of psychological characteristics, the originality of compositional solutions, the classical rigor of the drawing, and the refined mastery of coloring. Among them are a portrait of the Bellely family (1860-1862, Louvre), female portrait(1867, Paris, Louvre), a portrait of the artist’s father and guitarist Pagan (c. 1872, Chicago, private collection) and a portrait of Lepic with his daughters (Place de la Concorde, 1873), striking in its courage, liveliness and spontaneity of solution.
Degas's genre works provide a brilliant picture of the morals of modern Paris. Their topics are varied and cover many phenomena of modern reality. The keenness of observation and careful study of nature are often combined in them with caustic irony and a pessimistic attitude towards the depicted. Degas often concentrates his attention on the unattractive aspects of reality and conveys them with the cold mercilessness inherent in his skeptical mind. This is typical of his paintings depicting the life of bohemians, cafe visitors, singers performing at cafe concerts. Thus, in the famous painting “Absinthe” (1876, Louvre), Degas managed to capture a characteristic scene of modern life with great realistic conviction and poignancy and create expressive images of two degenerate people.
Degas' favorite theme was theater and ballet. The artist depicts with equal skill the boring, tedious everyday life of ballerinas - lessons, rehearsals, scenes in the restrooms, and the colorful, festive extravaganza of ballet performances. These works reflect Degas's inherent ability to capture and convey the often transient, instantaneous, but always characteristic poses and movements of figures, and facial expressions.
Degas's attention was also attracted by scenes of labor. In numerous images of laundresses (Paris, Louvre; New York, private collection), the artist was able to convey both the severity of labor and its tedious monotony. In these works, Degas often rises to social generalizations in the characteristic and sharply conveyed images of women from the people. True, unlike Daumier, he does not tend to emphasize the moral strength and dignity of the common man.
Degas's painting style develops from the careful execution in his early works to increasing freedom and breadth. In his pictorial quests, he is in many ways close to the Impressionists; his palette brightens, he uses pure color, applying it in separate strokes or strokes (in pastels). The artist shows great interest in the transmission of light (mostly artificial) and air. The latter is especially evident in many depictions of horse racing. However, the approximate, monotonous and limited manner of the Impressionists was unusual for him. Degas combined pictorial searches, technical experiments, and the development of sharp and varied color solutions with strict drawing and great attention to composition. For all their liveliness, surprise and spontaneity, Degas's compositions are always carefully thought out and masterfully constructed.
In the late period of his creativity, Degas worked primarily in pastels, often depicting nudes. These are usually women busy washing themselves, combing their hair, getting out of the bath, and getting dressed. The artist keenly captures in these works the various, sometimes awkward and ugly movements of the human body. All these works are marked by high and original skill. However, Degas's almost exclusive use of the nude demonstrates the well-known ideological and thematic limitations of his late work.
In addition to oil paintings and pastels, Degas left many graphic works. He also completed a number of sculptures (ballerinas, jockeys with horses, nudes), mainly at the end of his life, when, due to almost complete loss of vision, he was deprived of the opportunity to work in painting.
Degas had a great influence on many French artists of the late 19th century, in particular the so-called "painters of Montmartre". The most significant of Degas' followers was Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), a sharp draftsman and subtle colorist who worked a lot in posters and created expressive, often satirical, not without critical images of Parisian bohemia in a number of lithographs.
Pierre Auguste Renoir. The work of Renoir (1841-1919), one of the most prominent representatives of impressionism, has a completely different character. Unlike Degas, he was a cheerful artist who captured in his canvases poetic images of modern Parisian women and colorful scenes of Parisian life. Renoir began his artistic activity as a porcelain painter. In Gleyre's studio, where he studied painting for a short time, Renoir became close to C. Monet and Sisley, sharing with them a rejection of academic routine and a passion for Courbet. The influence of the latter marked many of Renoir’s works executed in the 1860s, for example “Aunt Antonia’s Zucchini” (1865, Stockholm, National Museum), portrait of Sisley with his wife (1868, Cologne, Wallraf-Richart Museum), “Lisa” (1867, Essen, Folkwang Museum). Already in these early works, Renoir paid considerable attention to the transmission of light and pictorial and coloristic problems.
Paintings made in the late 1860s, in particular “The Paddling Pool” (1868-1869, Moscow, Pushkin Museum), mark the beginning of the impressionistic period in the artist’s work, when he performed his most famous works. At this time (late 1860s and 1870s) he painted mainly portraits and genre paintings, paying some attention to landscapes.
Among Renoir's portraits, the most successful are those of children and women. His works such as “The Lodge” (1874, London, Courtauld Institute), “Girl with a Fan” (Hermitage), “Portrait of Madame Charpentier with Children” (1878, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), portrait of the artist Samari (1877 , Moscow, Pushkin Museum), recreate characteristic images contemporary Parisian women, their peculiar, unique charm. These portraits cannot be called psychological, but they attract with their painterly skill and convincing rendering of the models, liveliness of expression, peculiar poetry and the feeling of fullness of life inherent in most of Renoir’s works.
Renoir's genre paintings are not distinguished by the variety or significance of their themes. Country walks of Parisians, open-air holidays - these are the subjects of many of his paintings. In them, as in all the artist’s work, his cheerful attitude and somewhat superficial, thoughtless attitude to reality. But their merit lies in the freshness and spontaneity of interpretation, the ability to feel the poetic charm of simple motifs, and to reveal the picturesque richness of reality. His coloring becomes sonorous, varied and iridescent, bright sunlight floods his canvases, the motley noisy Parisian crowd is presented in unity with the surrounding light-air environment, erasing the contours of figures and depriving objects of their plastic definition (“Moulin de la Galette”, 1876, Paris, Louvre ; “Breakfast of the Boatmen”, 1881, Washington, Phillips Gallery). Adopting the principles and method of impressionism during this period, Renoir, however, fully retained his individual worldview and techniques. His painting technique combines fractional brushstrokes and glazes characteristic of the Impressionists, which gives Renoir’s canvases not only a rare colorful richness, but also coloristic unity.
In the late period of his work, Renoir moved away from impressionism. “I reached the limits of impressionism and stated that I could neither write nor draw,” the artist wrote in the early 1880s. The problem of transmitting light and air occupies him much less at this time; he pays more attention to composition, strives for generality, monumentality, and plastic certainty in the interpretation of figures. However, all the changes that occur in the artist’s work relate exclusively to the formal side of his art. At this time, Renoir further limited the themes of his work, paying primary attention to the depiction of nudes. A passion for formal problems is combined with purely decorative tendencies, which ultimately leads to a significant conventionalism in the interpretation of forms and color in many of the artist’s later works.
Claude Monet. All the features of impressionism found their most complete expression in the work of Claude Monet (1840-1926). He was the leader of this movement, he was the first to formulate its principles, develop a player program and a painting technique characteristic of impressionism. Many achievements of this movement are associated with his name. And at the same time, it was in Monet’s art that the limitations of impressionism and the crisis that it had been experiencing since the mid-1880s were especially clearly manifested.
Monet's early works connect impressionism with the realistic art of Courbet, Corot and Daubigny, and also indicate the influence of E. Manet. These are mainly landscapes, portraits and figural compositions in the open air: “Breakfast on the Grass” (1866, Moscow, Pushkin Museum), “Camilla” (1866, Bremen, Museum), “Woman in the Garden” (1865-1866, Hermitage). Many of them are painted in the open air; the artist pays great attention to the transmission of light in them. Since the late 1860s, Monet worked almost exclusively in the field of landscape, conveying in his canvases direct impressions of nature or city views, attaching increasing importance to the rendering of light and air. The best period of his work was the 1870s, when he created convincing and moody paintings of French nature, distinguished by great freshness and coloristic freedom. At this time, he found many new landscape motifs, simple but attractive, and introduced into art the image of the city, squares and boulevards, animated by flashing carriages and a hurrying crowd. To express these motives, the artist is looking for appropriate painting techniques - vibrant, pure color, reverent, separate strokes (“Boulevard of the Capuchines in Paris”, 1873, Moscow, Pushkin Museum, landscapes executed in Argenteuil). However, in the future, capturing transient light and atmospheric effects often becomes an end in itself for Monet. The shape and outline of objects dissolve in the light-air environment, they lose density and materiality, turning into unsteady colorful spots. Monet strove for scientific accuracy in conveying the effects of light and air on the local colors of objects, studied the laws of complementary colors, paying special attention to the transmission of reflexes, and along this path of technical research he reached significant exaggerations. The formal and technical side replaced deep knowledge and revelation of reality in his work and overshadowed the holistic nature of many of his later works. artistic image. The very motif of nature ceases to interest the artist and turns only into an excuse for conveying color and light-air effects. This is especially indicative of Monet's work from the late 1880s, when he created a series of landscapes depicting the same motif in different times of the day: a series of haystacks, Rouen cathedrals, views of the Thames, Venice. The perception of nature in these works becomes more and more subjective, and the desire to convey fleeting visual impressions leads to the abandonment of a compositionally constructed picture and its replacement with a random sketch. Many of Monet's later works are marked not only by formal and technical, but also by decorative quests. This determines in a number of cases a significant conventionality and deliberateness of compositional and color solutions (the “Water Lily” series).
As the head of French impressionism, Monet had a great influence on a number of artists who joined this movement and worked primarily in the field of landscape. Among them, Pissarro and Sisley deserve mention first.
Camille Pissarro. Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) in his early works developed the traditions of French realistic landscape (Courbet, Corot, Barbizons). Then, from the late 1860s, having become close to E. Manet and the young artists grouped around him, Pissarro turned to the player, to a brightened, rainbow palette and became one of the characteristic representatives of French impressionism. In his paintings, Pissarro depicted the streets of Rouen and Paris, its suburbs and environs, the banks of the Seine, meadows and country roads. Unlike other impressionists, he often introduces figures of peasants into his rural landscapes. Like all impressionists, Pissarro pays a lot of attention to pictorial searches, the transfer of light and air. However, light-air effects rarely become the main motive in his paintings. In his best landscapes, Pissarro fully perceives nature, conveys the richness and diversity of its life. Summarizing his immediate impressions, the artist usually carefully thinks through the compositional structure of the landscape and knows how to give monumentality to the most ordinary motifs.
Alfred Speley. The work of Alfred Sysley (1839-1899) was more lyrical. Monet's comrade in Gleyre's workshop, in his early works he joined Corot and Daubigny, and then became one of the first participants in Impressionist exhibitions. Working exclusively in the area landscape painting, Sisley usually painted the nature of the Ile de France. He was attracted to intimate, immediate motives - fields, villages, banks of rivers and canals, and he knew how to reveal their originality and attractiveness. Sisley had a subtle sense of color, sensitively capturing the variability of nature and the state of the light-air environment. But, accepting the method of impressionism, he was more restrained in his formal and technical searches than other impressionists, in particular Monet.

It's hard to meet today cultured person, who does not know the graceful ballerinas of Degas, the buxom beauties of Renoir or the landscapes with water lilies of Claude Monet. Impressionism originated in France at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century and subsequently spread throughout the world. Now the impressionists are on a par with the classics, against whom they once rebelled, but at one time it was a progressive and revolutionary movement in painting.

The crisis of art in the 19th century

In the middle of the 19th century, three styles fought in painting - classicism, romanticism and realism. All of them required the artist to have great skill in drawing and accurate copying of the depicted object. Meanwhile, classicism and romanticism showed the world in a too idealized way, and realism, on the contrary, was too mundane.

In order for an aspiring artist in France to achieve success, he certainly had to undergo training at the School of Fine Arts or with famous artists and exhibit at the Salon - an exhibition sponsored by the state in the person of recognized academicians. If a painter wanted to sell and be successful with the public, he needed to receive a Salon award, that is, to please the tastes of a demanding commission. If the jury rejected the work, the artist could be given up as a recognized mediocrity.

In 1863, after the Salon jury rejected about 3,000 paintings, the artists' outrage reached its peak. Complaints reached Emperor Napoleon III, and he ordered the organization of an exhibition of rejected works, which was called the “Salon of the Rejected.” The exhibition was attended by such authors as Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cezanne. The alternative exhibition had resounding success. True, the bulk of the public went there to mock the “unformatted” artists.

Edouard Manet was considered such a renegade for a long time. His paintings “Lunch on the Grass” and “Olympia” shocked the respectable public. The author was hit by an avalanche of criticism and indignation from moral advocates.

What is it about these works? From a modern point of view, the paintings are quite traditional; nude women have been painted before. For the viewer of Manet's time, there is a challenge. In "Breakfast on the Grass" they were confused by the image of a completely naked woman in the company of clothed men. Giorgione has a similar plot in the film “Rural Concert”, and “Olympia” is a rethought copy of Titian’s “Venus of Urbino”. The nude ladies of Giorgione and Titian are idealized, they are somewhere far away, in other worlds. And Manet's paintings depicted courtesans, modern and happy with life. This shocked the bourgeois public, accustomed to painted goddesses and queens.

All this testified to an imminent crisis in the art of France in the second half of the 19th century. Impressionism was an attempt to find new way, although for many it turned out to be akin to shock therapy.

Background of Impressionism

It cannot be said that impressionism arose on its own. By the time of their first exhibition, many of the participants were already in adulthood, having long years teaching painting.

The prerequisites for this new movement, if desired, can be found in the Renaissance masters Velazquez, El Greco, Goya, Rubens, Titian, and Rembrandt. But the Impressionists were directly influenced by such contemporary artists as Delacroix, Courbet, Daubigny, and Corot.

The style of the Impressionists was also influenced by japanese painting, whose exhibitions were constantly held in Paris. The refined works of Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige poeticized every moment of life, which is so characteristic of the Eastern mentality. The simplified form, shifted composition, and purity of color in Japanese engravings captivated young artists and opened up new horizons for them.

In addition, the creativity of the Impressionists was influenced by the emergence of photography. With its help it was possible to take unexpected angles, close-ups, and images in motion. Photography has become the art of capturing the moment; this is something that was close to innovative artists. With the advent of photography, one could no longer follow the accuracy of the image, but give preference to one’s inner state and emotional coloring. Spontaneity became one of the rules of the new painting.

Features of impressionism

Critics' complaints were not only about the subjects of the paintings, but also about the impressionists' painting style. It was radically different from what was taught at the Paris School of Fine Arts.

The impressionists did not adhere to a clear outline; they applied strokes carelessly, not caring about carefully drawing each object. The paints were mixed immediately on the canvas, achieving a purity of shade. The perspective was built not according to geometric laws, but due to the depth of paint tone, the decrease in color intensity as the object moves away.

They abandoned the contrasting image of chiaroscuro. Black, white, gray disappeared from their palette, brown colors in its purest form. The shadows could be green, blue, or purple, depending on how the artist saw them.

The Impressionists widely used the technique of optical mixing: strokes of two colors are placed side by side on the canvas, which, when viewed by the viewer, give the effect of a third. For example, green and yellow turn into blue, blue and red turn into purple, etc.

The subjects of the paintings were not mythology or historical events, but landscapes, portraits, still lifes - all this was considered a “low” genre. Artists tried to depict nature or an object at a certain moment in time, conveying a strong emotion. This is how a series of works appeared where the same motif was depicted, but at different times of the year or day under different lighting. For example, the works of Claude Monet: “Haystacks”, “Poplars”, “Rouen Cathedral”, etc.

To achieve this, the Impressionists often painted from life, en plein air, in order to accurately capture what they saw. The academicians spent most of their time in the studio, honing their drawing techniques.

This approach made the paintings more emotional, poetic, made it possible to see the beauty in the most ordinary things, and valued the simplicity of the moment, every moment of life. The depiction of ordinary things through the prism of the artist’s perception made each painting unique.

History of the flow

On April 15, 1874, a company of young innovative artists staged their exhibition in the salon of photographer Felix Nodard on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris.

The very idea of ​​an independent exhibition, bypassing the official Salon, was already rebellious, but the paintings shown to the public caused even more indignation. After all, they went against all academic canons and were unlike the idealized works of representatives of classicism or romanticism that were then popular in France.

The exhibition featured 30 artists and 165 works. These included Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Manet, Degas, Cezanne, Berthe Morisot. After some time, fortunes would be given for their paintings, but then a storm of criticism fell on the brave souls. They were accused of being shocking in order to attract the attention of the public, they were reproached for “sloppiness”, “unfinished” work and even immorality.

The famous critic and journalist Louis Leroy, describing in a satirical article Claude Monet’s painting “Impression. Rising Sun” will call the artists impressionists (from the French impression - impression). Without knowing it, he will give the name to a whole movement in world painting.

The second exhibition took place two years after the legendary first - in April 1876. It caused even greater rejection by critics and the public. Artists were compared to mentally ill people. One can only marvel at the courage and self-confidence of these daredevils, who continued to create, despite the lack of money, in an atmosphere of constant ridicule and bullying.

In March 1875, an auction of works by Sisley, Monet, Renoir and Berthe Morisot took place. It was a scandal, the audience booed the paintings presented for sale. Many paintings were sold for next to nothing. The artists and their friends had to buy some of the works themselves rather than give them away completely for nothing.

However, the Impressionists also had loyal fans. These included gallery owner and collector Paul Durand-Ruel, who invariably helped artists organize exhibitions and sell paintings. And also collector Victor Choquet, who fell in love with the works of the Impressionists at first sight.

From 1877 to 1886, 6 more impressionist exhibitions were held in France. All of them, except the last one, were subjected to a barrage of criticism and ridicule.

Meanwhile, disagreements emerged among the artists themselves. Thus, Manet and Renoir took part in the Salon exhibitions in 1879 and 1880. Their paintings were selected by a discerning jury. Claude Monet also presented his works for the Salon, but his paintings were not accepted. This met with Degas's scorn and condemnation from other artists.

In the fall of 1885, Durand-Ruel received an offer to organize an exhibition of the Impressionists in New York. At first, the artists were skeptical about this idea. But in March 1886, Durand-Ruel left France for America with a collection of paintings by his protégés. In the United States, the works of the Impressionists were treated with interest, and the exhibition was very popular. The press was like positive reviews, and negative. Several paintings were sold to local collectors.

Meanwhile, disagreements among the Impressionists grew. Monet began to quarrel with Durand-Ruel and sell his paintings through other art dealers. Monet was joined by Pissarro and Renoir. The artists also clashed with each other.

The group of impressionists, once united in the fight against academicism, lost their common idea and ceased to exist.

The last exhibition in 1886 featured artists who would be called Post-Impressionists. These are Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. Post-impressionists also include such masters as Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and others.

The idea of ​​impressionism has outlived its usefulness, but it opened the way to other, even more innovative art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Impressionist artists

It is impossible to consider impressionism in isolation from the destinies of the masters themselves. Let's look at short biographies of several artists.

Edouard Manet

Manet was born in 1832 into a respectable family of a lawyer and the daughter of a diplomat. The boy was not strong in studies, but showed interest in drawing. However, his parents did not support his hobby. His father wanted Edward to follow in his footsteps. His uncle helped the young man; he paid for art courses.

In 1847, the young man decides to enter a nautical school, but fails the exam. As a cabin boy, he goes on a ship to South America. While traveling, he makes a lot of drawings and sketches.

After returning to France, Edward decides to take up painting. He has been studying in the workshop of Tom Couture for 6 years. At the same time, he travels around Europe, getting acquainted with art monuments. Among the Impressionists, Manet will be considered the most “academic” artist. He will reinterpret the work of the Renaissance masters more than once in his works. His favorite painters were Velazquez, Titian, and Goya.

Manet offers his works to the Salon jury many times and is invariably refused. As a result, he participates in the exhibition “Salon of the Rejected.” There, his painting “Breakfast on the Grass” caused a big scandal. In the same 1863, the artist painted another of his shocking paintings, “Olympia.” Manet invariably found himself under a barrage of criticism. His friend Emile Zola came to the artist’s defense. Another close friend of his was Charles Baudelaire.

In 1866, Manet became friends with the Impressionists, who were also rejected by academicians. He himself never considered himself one of them. He used black in his palette and did not recognize the divisionist style of painting. But it was Edouard Manet who is considered the founder of impressionism.

Manet, who did not accept academicism, nevertheless invariably sent his works to the Salon. He had a hard time with the refusals and indifference of the audience to his works. The artist paints a lot of portraits and genre scenes; his palette is not as cheerful as that of other impressionists. He also works in the open air and paints still lifes.

By the end of the 70s, the work of Edouard Manet was gradually gaining recognition. His works are exhibited in Salons, at one he even receives a medal. In 1881, Manet was awarded the Legion of Honor. By this time, the artist was already suffering from ataxia (lack of coordination of movements). He could no longer paint large canvases.

In 1883, Manet's leg was amputated due to gangrene, but the operation did not help. A few months later the artist died.

Claude Monet

Claude Monet was born in 1840 into the family of a grocery merchant. The boy became famous in his native Le Havre, thanks to drawing caricatures and caricatures. At the age of 17, fate brought him together with the artist Eugene Boudin. Boudin took young Monet with him to plein airs and instilled in him a love of painting.

In 1859, Claude goes to Paris. He begins his studies at the Suisse Academy, and then takes lessons from Charles Gleyre. In 1865 Monet exhibited at the Salon. His work was received quite favorably. Then he meets his future wife Camilla.

Monet often went out into the open air with Renoir and other impressionists; painting landscapes captivated him more and more.

In 1870 Monet left for London. In England he meets Paul Durand-Ruel. After 2 years, returning to France, Monet settled in Argenteuil. During the 4 years he lived in this cozy place, Monet wrote many works.

In 1874, Claude Monet participated in the first Impressionist exhibition. His paintings were criticized, as were the works of other participants.

In 1878, the Monet family settled in the town of Vitey. There he creates many paintings. But a year later his wife Camilla dies. For a time, grief-stricken Monet abandoned landscapes, painting still lifes in the studio.

In 1883, Monet finally found a place where he would live for more than 40 years. This place turns out to be a house in Giverny. The new owner will lay out a wonderful garden there and make a famous pond, which will tirelessly write at sunset.

In 1892, Claude Monet married his friend's widow, Alice Hoschedet.

Monet paints a series of works, depicting the same view at different times of the year and day, under different lighting. He has quite a lot of such series: “Haystack”, “Poplars”, “Pond with Water Lilies”, “Rouen Cathedral”, etc. Claude Monet is masterful in conveying different color shades, he depicts an elusive moment through the prism of his perception. His paintings are a success and are eagerly purchased by collectors, including those outside France.

Throughout his life, Monet painted nature. Towards the end of his life he concentrated on his garden in Giverny, which he turned into another work of art. The master tirelessly paints its views: flowers, shady alleys and the famous pond. In 1919, Monet donated 12 large paintings from the “Nymphaeas” series to the state. Two pavilions were allocated for them in the Orangerie Museum.

Meanwhile, the artist began to go blind. After undergoing eye surgery in 1925, he was able to return to work. Claude Monet died in 1926, having become a classic artist during his lifetime. He was not only the founder of impressionism, but also the forerunner of abstract art, ahead of his time and opening an entire era with his work.

Auguste Renoir

Auguste was born into a large, poor family in 1841. As a teenager, he painted dishes. In 1862 he entered the School of Fine Arts, and also attended classes with Charles Gleyre. In 1864, his paintings were approved for participation in the Salon. Together with his impressionist friends, Renoir goes to plein airs. The artist develops his own unique style - bold, broad strokes, a cheerful play of light and color.

After the first exhibition of the Impressionists, Renoir was subjected to merciless criticism. Subsequently, he participated in 3 more exhibitions. In 1879 he exhibited at the Salon, despite the reproaches of his friends. His painting “Madame Charpentier with Children” received recognition, and the artist’s business went uphill. Wealthy townspeople began to give him orders for portraits. Renoir was especially good at portraying female images; he also painted many children's portraits. They feel special warmth and ease.

The 1870-80s are the heyday of the artist’s work. He paints complex, large canvases with many characters. This period includes his famous paintings“Ball at the Moulin de la Galette”, “Breakfast of the Rowers”. Renoir believed that painting should decorate people's lives. His art was bright, sincere, sunny, like France itself.

In 1890, he married his model Alina Sharigo, and they had three children. In 1881, Renoir travels to Italy. When he returned, he changed his painting style to a more “academic” one. The paintings “Umbrellas” and “Great Bathers” belong to this period. Renoir paid a lot of attention to the nude. Returning to the principles of impressionism, he painted a series of paintings with bathers - an ode female beauty and grace.

Renoir, unlike many impressionists, received recognition during his lifetime. He was praised by critics, he had many customers, and his paintings sold well. In his old age, Renoir suffered from arthritis. He wrote by tying his brushes to his hands, disfigured by rheumatism. “Pain passes, but beauty remains,” said the artist. Auguste Renoir died in 1919 from lung disease.

Camille Pissarro

Born on the island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean in 1831. At the age of 25 he moved to France, to Paris, and studied with Suisse and Corot. Participated in the “Salon of the Rejected”. At the same time, he met Manet, Cezanne, Monet, and Sisley. Pissarro painted landscapes, paying a lot of attention to the lighting of objects. In 1868 he exhibited at the Salon. The following year, due to the outbreak of war, he was forced to leave for London. There Pissarro met his friend Claude Monet. Together they went plein air, exploring the nature of England.

Upon returning to France, Camille Pissarro settled in Pontoise. In 1872, Cezanne and his family came to him. Artists become inseparable friends. And in 1881 Paul Gauguin joined them. Pissarro willingly helped young artists and shared his experience with them. He urged not to pay much attention to drawing the outline of objects, the main thing is to convey the essence. You need to write what you see and feel, without focusing on the accuracy of the technique. Only nature can be a teacher, with whom one should always consult.

During his life in Pontoise, Pissarro was able to develop his own special style of painting. The artist lived there for 10 years. He often turned to stories from rural life. His works are filled with light and lyricism.

However, Pissarro's paintings sold poorly, and it was difficult for him to provide for his large family. In 1884, the artist settled in the village of Eragny, occasionally visiting Paris in the hope of selling his paintings or finding a patron. Such a person was Paul Durand-Ruel, who received a monopoly right to buy out the master’s works.

In 1885, Camille Pissarro decided to join the post-impressionists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, he tried a new direction - pointillism. Because of the participation of Seurat and Signac in the eighth exhibition of the Impressionists, Pissarro quarrels with Monet, Renoir, and Sisley. As a result, Pissarro and his new friends exhibited in a separate room. However, the public did not appreciate the new direction.

In 1889, Pissarro abandoned pointillism and returned to his old style. Painting with dots could not satisfy his desire to convey the spontaneity and freshness of inner sensation. People are starting to buy his paintings again. Durand-Ruel organizes several exhibitions of the artist.

In the last years of his life, Pissarro became seriously interested in graphics, lithography and etching. The artist died in Paris at the age of 73. During his lifetime, he received no awards from the state. Pissarro always helped young artists and tried to reconcile the warring Impressionists. He was the only one who participated in all their exhibitions.

Edgar Degas

Degas was born in 1834. His banker father gave Edgar permission to study painting with difficulty. At 21 years old. the young man entered the School of Fine Arts. In 1865, Degas's painting "Scene from the Life of the Middle Ages" was approved for exhibition at the Salon. Acquaintance with the impressionists changes the artist’s worldview. He is moving away from academicism. Degas prefers genre painting, depicting the ordinary people around him.

Beginning in the 1870s, Degas tried to paint in pastels. The artist liked this material, as it combined painting with graphics. Degas's style differed from other impressionists, who put light first. In addition, Degas did not go to plein airs, preferring to make sketches in cafes, at horse races, and in shops. He tried to express expression through line and drawing, which was not always understood by other impressionists.

Degas always took an active part in organizing impressionist exhibitions in France. He missed only one of them for ideological reasons. However, he himself did not consider himself an impressionist.

Degas's works are not as joyful as the paintings of his comrades. He often depicted life without embellishment, as in the film “The Absinthe Drinkers.”

A circle of young artists gathered around Degas - Vidal, Casset, Raffaelli, Tillo, Foren and others. This created a split in the Impressionist society and led to an inevitable conflict and, ultimately, to the disintegration of the partnership.

In the 1880s, Degas created a series of works: “In a hat shop”, “Naked women at the toilet”. The latest series of pastels caused public outrage because women were depicted realistically and intimately in daily activities.

The “Horses” and “Dancers” series allowed the artist to convey the drawing in motion. The theme of the ballet was close to Degas. No one could capture the essence of dance like he did. Edgar painted fragile dancers on stage and behind the scenes. He often made drawings from memory in the studio, which was also unusual for the impressionists.

Degas never created a family. He was famous for his difficult, quarrelsome character. His only passion was art, to which he devoted all his time.

After 1890, Degas suffered from an eye disease and partially lost his sight. The master turns to sculpture. He sculpted dancers and horses from clay and wax, but many of his figurines subsequently perished due to the fragility of the material. However, 150 works remaining after the artist’s death were converted into bronze.

Degas spent his last years blind. This was a great tragedy for him. Edgar Degas died in 1917 in Paris, leaving behind great legacy in the form of drawings, paintings, sculptures.

Based on the life stories of artists, it is clear that impressionism has many facets. At one time, it became a revolution in the art of France and the whole world, opening up the possibility for the emergence of many new directions. But one thing united all the impressionists. This is the desire to depict the fragile, elusive beauty of moments from which life is built.

The most typical theme for the Impressionists is landscape, but they also touched on many other themes in their work. Degas, for example, depicted horse races, ballerinas and laundresses, and Renoir depicted charming women and children. In impressionistic landscapes created outdoors, a simple, everyday motif is often transformed by pervasive moving light, bringing a sense of festivity to the picture. In certain techniques of impressionistic construction of composition and space, the influence of Japanese engraving and partly photography is noticeable. The Impressionists were the first to create a multifaceted picture of the everyday life of a modern city, capturing the originality of its landscape and the appearance of the people inhabiting it, their life, work and entertainment.

The impressionists did not strive to touch upon acute social problems, philosophy or shocking creativity, focusing only on in various ways expressing impressions of the surrounding everyday life. Trying to “see the moment” and reflect the mood.

Name " Impressionism" arose after the 1874 exhibition in Paris, at which Monet's painting "Impression" was exhibited. Rising Sun" (1872; the painting was stolen from the Marmottan Museum in Paris in 1985 and is today on the Interpol lists).

More than seven Impressionist exhibitions were held between 1876 and 1886; upon completion of the latter, only Monet continued to strictly follow the ideals of Impressionism. “Impressionists” are also called artists outside of France who wrote under the influence of French Impressionism (for example, the Englishman F.W. Steer).

Impressionist artists

Famous paintings by impressionist artists: