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Impressionism
Impressionism 101
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Dates/Place
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1850 – 1920/France
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The name of the movement is derived from the title of a
Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise.
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Focused on a single moment of time
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Think of it as a snapshot with a camera.
Subject Matter
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Everyday scenes of cafes and street life were common
Claude Monet. Impression, Sunrise. 1872. Oil on canvas. Musee Marmottan
Impressionism 101
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Style and Technique
Defined objects/subject matters by breaking it up
into strokes of color.
 Visible brushstrokes.
 The use of color and light were important.
 When looking closely at an Impressionistic painting,
the patches of color may not represent anything.
When you back away, the colors will begin to blend
and start to create recognizable objects.
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Impressionism 101 - Artists
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Impressionism
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Post-Impressionism
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Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste
Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Mary Cassatt.
Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec,
Paul Gauguin, and Paul Cezanne.
Neo-Impressionism
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Georges Seurat
Claude Monet
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1840 – 1926
A founder of impressionistic
painting
Subject matter
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Landscapes
Series paintings
Known for en plein air
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painting outdoors
Claude Monet. Garden at Sainte-Adresse, 1867
Oil on canvas; 38 5/8 x 51 1/8 in. (98.1 x 129.9 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City .
Waterloo Bridge, 1902.
Claude Monet
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By the 1890’s, Monet’s focus began on a series
of the same subject, only at different times of
the day and in different lights and weather
conditions.
The subject matter wasn’t as important as the
qualities of light and color.
 Some of these subjects included haystacks, poplars,
and the façade of the Rouen Cathedral.
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Claude Monet - Haystacks
Grainstack. (Sunset.)
Grainstacks in the Sunlight, Morning Effect
Claude Monet - Haystacks
Grainstacks (Snow Effect)
Wheatstacks (End of Summer)
Claude Monet.
Rouen Cathedral, Facade (sunset),
Oil on canvas.
1892-1894.
Musée Marmottan-Monet.
Paris, France.
Claude Monet
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At the end of Monet’s career,
his work revolved around his
gardens at his home in
Giverny.
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In 1899, he began a series of
paintings of water lilies. He
even built a special studio to
accommodate the immense
canvases of the lilies and his
garden.
Claude Monet.
Bridge over a Pool of Water Lilies
Oil on canvas.
1899.
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Claude Monet – Water lilies
Mary Cassatt
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1845 – 1926
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American Impressionist
Mary Cassatt
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Subject Matter
Best known for her portraits of women in domestic
settings.
 Several of her works depict mothers with their
children.
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Mary Cassatt. The Boating Party. 1893–94. Oil on canvas. 35 1/2
x 46 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Mary Cassatt.
The Child's Bath (The Bath).
1893.
Oil on canvas.
Art Institute of Chicago.
Edgar Degas
Stage Rehearsal
The Glass of Absinthe
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Vincent Van Gogh
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1853 – 1890
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Post-Impressionist
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Considered the greatest
Dutch painter after
Rembrandt
Vincent Van Gogh
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Didn’t start painting until later in his life
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Subject Matter
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More than 2,000 works in the last 10 years of his life
Self-portraits, flowers, landscapes, still lifes
Style
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Swirling brushstrokes
Vincent Van Gogh.
Sunflowers or Vase with Fifteen
Sunflowers
(August 1888)
Oil on Canvas
National Gallery, London,
England
•A series of paintings
Vincent Van Gogh
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Throughout his life, Van Gogh experienced
extreme poverty and depression
His delicate health led to cutting off part of his
left ear after an argument with Gauguin.
 Voluntarily admitted himself an asylum but
continued to paint, including The Starry Night.
 Died from a self inflected bullet wound.
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Vincent Van Gogh. The Starry Night, June 1889. Oil on canvas. The
Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Vincent Van Gogh. Cornfield with Cypresses. (1889)
Vincent Van Gogh.
The Café Terrace on the Place du
Forum, Arles, at Night.
September 1888.
Oil on canvas.
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Vincent Van Gogh. The Bedroom. (1889)
Vincent Van Gogh. The Night Cafe. (1888)
Paul Gauguin. Night Café at Arles. (1888)
Paul Gauguin. Self-portrait. (1889-1890)
Paul Cézanne. Basket of Apples, 1890-1894, Art Institute of Chicago
Paul Cézanne.
Forest.
1902-1904.
Oil on canvas.
81.4 × 66 cm.
National Gallery of Canada,
Ottawa.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec . At the Moulin Rouge
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Georges Seurat
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Neo-Impressionist
Known for his use of
pointillism
 Separating colors
into small dots
 “Seurat's Dots”
The Circus. 1881
Georges Seurat. Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
1884-1886. Oil on canvas. The Art Institute of Chicago.
Auguste Rodin
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1840 – 1917
French Sculptor
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Known as first modern
sculptor
Known for:
The Gates of Hell
 The Thinker
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Rodin’s The Gates of Hell
Rodin’s The Thinker
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Part of The Gates of Hell
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Subject is contemplating
a vision of hell.
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Several versions
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Wax mold process
Impressionism
Music
Music
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Impressionist composers sought to evoke
moods and sensuous impressions mainly
through harmony and tone color.
Meant to evoke a mood, a sentiment, or
atmosphere
Titles of compositions suggest the subject of the
piece
Claude Debussy
(CLAW-d Duh-byoo-SEE)
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1862 – 1918
French Impressionist
composer
Studied at the Paris
Conservatory of Music
Influences include
Tchaikovsky and Wagner
Claude Debussy
Debussy avoided grand, dramatic
subjects in favor of vague outlines of
melody and rhythm, soft colorful tones,
and shimmering effects.
 His music evoked the atmosphere of
nature (wind, rain, sea, etc.)
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Claude Debussy
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Debussy’s circle of friends did not include
other composers but rather Impressionist
poets and painters who had a heavy influence
on him.
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
 Most
celebrated orchestral work
 A “tone poem”
 Orchestral
music in one movement in
which the music provides the
narrative to tell a story
 Inspired
by a poem by Mallarme
Debussy
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Other works:
Nuages (Clouds) – orchestral composition
 Children’s Corner – piano composition
 Claire de lune (Moonlight) – piano composition
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Maurice Ravel
(More-EECE Rah-VEL)
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1875 - 1937
French composer and
pianist
Known for his moody,
exotic compositions
Influenced by Russian
composers
Maurice Ravel
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His piano, chamber, vocal, and orchestral
music have become major parts of the
concert repertoire.
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Composing small, self-contained “blocks” of
phrases and then put them together in a larger
structure.
More concerned with classical form and
balance than Debussy.
Maurice Ravel
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Influenced by Russian composers
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Famous Works
Bolero (Orchestra work)
 Daphnis and Chloe (ballet)
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Ravel
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Other popular works:
 Ma
Mere l’Oye (Mother Goose Suite - piano
duet)
 5 pieces each telling a different story:
 Pavane
of the Sleeping Beauty
 Petit poucet (Tom Thumb)
 Laideronnette imperatrice des pagodes (Little Ugly
One, Empress of the Pagodas)
 Les entretiens de la belle et la bete (Conversations
Between Beauty and the Beast)