University:
Capella University
Course:
2301 | Art History 1
Academic year:

2023
Views:

186

Pages:

3
Author:

Prince Sampson

Impressionism is often considered the first, true, modern art style. Do you agree with this statement, or not? In your post, please refer to both Impressionist images and earlier art to support your discussion. Discussion Assignment Unit 6 Impressionism is often considered the first, true, modern art style and I do agree 100% with this statement. I can say it is the most important movement in modern painting. Around the 1860s, a group of Paris-based artists (who included Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, August Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley) decided to paint simply what they saw, thought and felt. They were no longer interested in painting history, mythology, or the lives of great men or in seeking perfection in visual appearances. Instead, as their name suggests, impressionists strived to put on canvas an impression of how a landscape, thing or person appeared at a certain moment in time. In addition to painting their sketchy and light filled paintings, they managed to establish their own exhibition. (Gersh-Nesic, n.d). Throughout the history of art, styles and techniques have changed with each new form having come from or was a reaction against the styles and techniques that came before. The name impressionism was derived from a Claude Monet painting entitled Impression soleil levant which meant Impression, sunrise in English. More radically than any artists before them in France, Monet and the Impressionists took painting in a new direction, and they did so at a time when society was changing fast. They seized the opportunity to paint not just landscapes and people, but also some aspects of the changing society in which they lived. Monet was one of the first artists to find inspiration in street scenes and railway stations with an example of his new form of art below. Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise, 1872, oil on canvas, 48 x 63 cm (Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris). This painting was exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Which was completely different from the traditional three-dimensional perspective that had clarity of form that had previously served to distinguish the more important elements of a painting. Below is an example of such art. Hyacinthe Rigaud, Louis XIV, 1701, oil on canvas, 114 x 62 5/8 in (The J. Paul Getty Museum) From the two paintings above we can see that impressionism changed the way people feel about art today. Artists felt liberated from strict rules or composition, subject matter and technique. They no longer depended on the opinion of the salon. They were now free to paint what they wanted, experiment with new technology, and follow their own ideas and talent. This became the rising revolution of art. (Lumen Learning, n.d).