Impressionism

印象主義 / 1860s–1880s / Style / Painting Techniques

A movement that went outdoors and caught light itself with rapid strokes. It abandoned the contour line, laid shadows in complementary colors rather than black, and painted the same subject differently at each hour of the day. Nearly every avant-garde that followed defined itself by agreeing or disagreeing with it.

Impressionism — Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1872 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1872 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Impressionism — Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Impressionism — Camille Pissarro, The Boulevard Montmartre at Night, 1897 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Camille Pissarro, The Boulevard Montmartre at Night, 1897 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

Short, divided touches of paint
Shadows made without black
Natural light outdoors
Composition that catches an instant

Best used for

Building an image whose subject is light and the passage of time
Raising form from adjacent colors instead of contour

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Dictionary entry

Type: Keep the lightness of the hand and do not tighten the page with a rigid face.
Composition: Move off center and let the edge of the frame cut the subject.
Material: Set unmixed colors side by side and leave white ground to make the light.
Caution: Imitating the brushwork alone produces nothing but blur. The real decision is which color goes into the shadow.
Further study: The first exhibition of 1874 and Impression, Sunrise / Painting outdoors as made possible by paint in tubes and the railway / The reception of ukiyo-e composition

Related entries

Neo-Impressionism (新印象主義)Shared effects: Calm.Compare Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism (ポスト印象主義)Same Painting Techniques lineage.Compare Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

Often confused with

Neo-Impressionism (新印象主義)compare

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