| So, we've been looking at the different art movements that developed in Europe, |
| and today we're going to look at Impressionism. |
| So let's get started. |
| Let's begin with when Impressionism started. |
| The movement of impressionism began in the 19th century in Paris, |
| it was originated with a select group of artists who exhibited their work independently. |
| Later on, these artists became prominent in the 1870s and 1880s. |
| Yes! Amy? |
| Why is it called Impressionism? |
| Well, the term 'impressionism' comes from a painting by Claude Monet, |
| which he showed at an exhibition with the name "Soleil Levant". |
| In English, it means Impression, Sunrise. |
| The name was coined by a critic, Louis Leroy. |
| He saw the exhibition and wrote a satirical review in which he said... |
| that all the paintings were just "impressions". |
| At that time, Louis Leroy and the art community were very hostile towards the new movement. |
| However, they soon came to recognize that these new Impressionists had captured a fresh and original vision, |
| even though the art establishment remained disapproving. |
| So why did this type of art cause so much friction? |
| A very good question! |
| Obviously, the focus of the art was very different. |
| Think of what we had leading up to this point. |
| Formal portraits. Very stiff, very static... |
| very focused on the accuracy of line and contours. |
| Quite dark too. |
| Artists mixed colors with black to make darker shades, |
| and that was what resulted in that effect. |
| The impressionists, however, focused more on open scenes and were more interested in light and movement. |
| The scenes themselves were relatively ordinary. |
| When we think of Impressionism, our minds often jump to outdoor scenes, |
| and it's true that there was an abundance of these, |
| but there were also lives, and images of people, |
| but these were not traditional portraits, |
| these people were captured from unusual angles, |
| getting on with whatever they were doing, |
| seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were being captured. |
| Up until that point, even outdoor scenes had been painted indoors, |
| and that's why the play of light and movement didn't really register. |
| Now it came to the fore. |
| One thing that allowed this to happen was the introduction of premixed paints |
| that came in lead tubes, like toothpaste tubes. |
| Artists no longer had to laboriously grind and mix their own paints using pigments and linseed oil. |
| They could just take their paints outside and paint what they saw. |
| Or inside, for that matter. |
| If they saw a particularly wonderful feature of light, |
| they could just go ahead and capture it right away. |
| And I think that spontaneity is what Impressionism is all about. |
| Alright! Now let's look at the specific elements of Impressionist painting. |
| We see short brush strokes, with no effort to blend these together. |
| The colors aren't mixed with any gradation from light to shade. |
| Pure colours are put together side by side. |
| Our eyes do the work of mixing colors together. |
| But the effect that this gives is intensity, vibrancy, vibration, and... |
| this creates the impression of movement. |
| Paints are often laid on impasto - so that they stick out from the surface, not smoothed down. |
| Details are out. |
| The essence of the subject is what matters. |
| You have to understand that they're not looking for a photographic reproduction here. |
| And there's no use of black, even to create shade. |
| That's done by mixing complementary colors. |
| Other rules that were sensible to previous artists went out of the window. |
| Wet paint was laid on top of wet paint, no matter if it went on smudgy. |
| That gave a soft edge, an intermingling of colour that the impressionists were aiming for. |
| Glazes, that is, thin films of paint, which earlier artists used to create effects and transparent surfaces, were not used. |
| Impressionist painting surfaces were typically opaque. |
| Yes! Amy? |
| I've learned that France wasn't the only place where painters were getting out into the open air. |
| There were other painters such as the Italian artists known as the Macchiaioli |
| and Winslow Homer in the United States who were painting outside. |
| Yes! But they didn't bring in those techniques I've just been talking about. |
| Also, the impressionists were not the first to use these techniques, either. |
| Painters throughout history had occasionally used these methods. |
| To name a few, Rubens, Constable, and Turner. |
| They all incorporated some Impressionist techniques, |
| but it was the impressionists who brought all techniques altogether. |
| Impressionists such as Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, and Théodore Rousseau |
| were the French painters who led the way in French Impressionist movement. |
| And painters of the Barbizon school such as Théodore Rousseau, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Eugène Boudin |
| were also very influential towards the Impressionists, |
| as they painted nature in a style that was similar to Impressionism, |
| and it is they who taught the younger artists who we regard as the true Impressionists. |
| In turn, impressionism paved the way for later styles like Neo-Impressionism, |
| Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism. |