Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

In April 1874, a group of young artists organized their own independent exhibition. Including the works of Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot, she became known as the first exhibition of the Impressionists after the initial use of the term in an article criticizing the work.

Impressionistsrejected the old-fashioned principles of the French academy with its emphasis on drawing, “finishing” and historical subjects. Instead, they sought to capture the fleeting nature, a fleeting moment.

Adhering to the ideas of Charles Baudelaire, the Impressionists were invited to leave their studios and paint their immediate surroundings. Work in the open air was the fundamental principle of impressionism along with the need to be in harmony with the modern world and the fleeting experience of urban life. Working on small portable paintings in the open air, they achieved sparkling effects not due to blurry tones and contrasts, but due to the separation of color, using paint with short, fragmented strokes.

Despite initial criticism, impressionism paved the way for modern movements, with its emphasis on technology rather than subject matter, shaking the foundations of academic art.