The concept of impressionism and its history. The main directions of modernism Impressionism in European art

Interregional Academy of Personnel Management

Severodonetsk Institute

Department of General Education and Humanities

Test on cultural studies

Impressionism as an art movement

Completed:

group student

IN23-9-06 BUB (4. Od)

Sheshenko Sergey

Checked:

Ph.D., Assoc.

Smolina O.O.

Severodonetsk 2007

Introduction

4. Post-Impressionism

Conclusion

Bibliography

Applications

Introduction

An important phenomenon of European culture in the second half of the 19th century. was the artistic style of impressionism, which became widespread not only in painting, but in music and fiction. And yet it arose in painting. Impressionism (French impressionism, from impression - impression), a movement in art of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. It happened in French painting late 1860s - early 1870s (the name arose after the exhibition of 1874, at which the painting by C. Monet “Impression. Rising Sun” was exhibited).

Signs of the impressionistic style are the absence of a clearly defined form and the desire to convey the subject in fragmentary strokes that instantly capture each impression, which, however, revealed their hidden unity and connection when reviewing the whole. As a special style, impressionism with its principle of the value of the “first impression” made it possible to conduct the narrative through details that were, as it were, grabbed at random, which apparently violated the strict consistency of the narrative plan and the principle of selecting the essential, but with their “lateral truth” imparted extraordinary brightness to the story and freshness.

In temporary arts, the action unfolds in time. Painting seems to be able to capture only one single moment in time. Unlike cinema, it always has one “frame”. How can it convey movement? One of these attempts to capture real world in its mobility and variability was an attempt by the creators of a movement in painting called impressionism (from the French impression). This movement brought together various artists, each of whom can be characterized as follows. An impressionist is an artist who conveys his direct impression of nature, sees in it the beauty of variability and impermanence, and recreates the visual sensation of brightness. sunlight, games of colored shadows, using a palette of pure unmixed colors, from which black and gray have been banished. Sunlight streams and vapor rises from the damp earth. Water, melting snow, plowed earth, swaying grass in the meadows do not have clear, frozen outlines. Movement, which was previously introduced into the landscape as an image of moving figures, as a result of the action of natural forces - wind, driving clouds, swaying trees, is now replaced by peace. But this peace of inanimate matter is one of the forms of its movement, which is conveyed by the very texture of painting - by dynamic strokes different colors, not constrained by the rigid lines of the drawing.

1. The origin of impressionism and its founders

The formation of impressionism began with the painting by E. Manet (1832-1893) “Luncheon on the Grass” (1863). The new style of painting was not immediately accepted by the public, who accused the artists of not knowing how to draw and throwing paints scraped from the palette onto the canvas. Thus, Monet’s pink Rouen cathedrals, the best of the artist’s painting series (“Morning,” “At First Rays of Sun,” “Afternoon”), seemed implausible to both viewers and fellow artists. The artist did not seek to represent the cathedral in different time day - he competed with the masters of Gothic to absorb the viewer in the contemplation of magical light-color effects. The façade of Rouen Cathedral, like most Gothic cathedrals, hides the mystical spectacle of the bright colored stained glass windows of the interior coming to life from the sunlight. The lighting inside the cathedrals changes depending on which side the sun is shining from, cloudy or clear weather. The word “impressionism” owes its appearance to one of Monet’s paintings. This painting was truly an extreme expression of the innovation of the emerging painting method and was called “Sunrise in Le Havre.” The compiler of the catalog of paintings for one of the exhibitions suggested that the artist call it something else, and Monet, crossing out “in Le Havre”, put “impression”. And several years after the appearance of his works, they wrote that Monet “reveals a life that no one before him was able to grasp, which no one even knew about.” An alarming spirit of birth began to be noticed in Monet's paintings new era. Thus, “serialism” appeared in his work as new phenomenon painting. And she focused on the problem of time. The artist’s painting, as noted, snatches one “frame” from life, with all its incompleteness and incompleteness. And this gave impetus to the development of the series as sequentially replacing each other. In addition to the Rouen Cathedrals, Monet creates the Gare Saint-Lazare series, in which the paintings are interconnected and complement each other. However, it was impossible to combine the “frames” of life into a single tape of impressions in painting. This became the task of cinema. Cinema historians believe that the reason for its emergence and widespread dissemination was not only technical discoveries, but also an urgent artistic need for a moving image, and the paintings of the Impressionists, in particular Monet, became a symptom of this need. It is known that one of the plots of the first cinema show in history, organized by the Lumière brothers in 1895, was “The Arrival of a Train.” Steam locomotives, a station, and rails were the subject of a series of seven paintings, "Gare Saint-Lazare" by Monet, exhibited in 1877.

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), together with C. Monet and A. Sisley, created the core of the impressionist movement. During this period, Renoir worked on the development of a vibrant, colorful artistic style with a feathery brushstroke (known as Renoir's iridescent style); creates many sensual nudes (“Bathers”). In the 80s, he increasingly gravitated towards the classical clarity of images in his work. Most of all, Renoir loved to paint children's and youthful images and peaceful scenes of Parisian life ("Flowers", "Young Man Walking with Dogs in the Forest of Fontainebleau", "Vase of Flowers", "Swimming in the Seine", "Lisa with an Umbrella", " Lady in a Boat", "Riders in the Bois de Boulogne", "Ball at Le Moulin de la Galette", "Portrait of Jeanne Samary" and many others). His work is characterized by light and transparent landscapes and portraits that glorify the sensual beauty and joy of being. But Renoir had the following thought: “For forty years I have been moving towards the discovery that the queen of all colors is black paint.” The name Renoir is synonymous with beauty and youth of that time human life when mental freshness and the flourishing of physical strength are in complete harmony.

2. Impressionism in the works of C. Pissarro, C. Monet, E. Degas, A. Toulouse-Lautrec

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) - representative of impressionism, author of light, pure-colored landscapes ("Plowed Ground"). His paintings are characterized by a soft, restrained palette. IN late period creativity turned to the image of the city - Rouen, Paris (Boulevard Montmartre, Opera passage in Paris). In the second half of the 80s. influenced by neo-impressionism. It also worked as a schedule.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) is a leading representative of impressionism, the author of landscapes that are subtle in color, filled with light and air. In the series of paintings "Haystacks", " Rouen Cathedral"He sought to capture fleeting, instantaneous states of the light-air environment at different times of the day. From the name of Monet's landscape Impression. Rising Sun came the name of the direction - impressionism. In a later period, features of decorativism appeared in the work of Monet.

The creative handwriting of Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is characterized by impeccably precise observation, the strictest drawing, sparkling, exquisitely beautiful color. He became famous for his freely asymmetrical angular composition, knowledge of facial expressions, poses and gestures of people of different professions, accurate psychological characteristics: “Blue Dancers”, “Star”, “Toilet”, “Ironers”, “Dancers’ Rest”. Degas is a wonderful master of portraiture. Under the influence of E. Manet he moved to everyday genre, depicting the Parisian street crowd, restaurants, horse races, ballet dancers, laundresses, the rudeness of the smug bourgeois. If Manet's works are bright and cheerful, then in Degas they are colored with sadness and pessimism.

The work of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) is also closely related to impressionism. He worked in Paris, where he painted cabaret dancers and singers and prostitutes in his own special style, distinguished bright colors, boldness of composition and brilliant technique. Great success used his lithographic posters.

3. Impressionism in sculpture and music

A contemporary and ally of the Impressionists was the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). His dramatic, passionate, heroically sublime art glorifies the beauty and nobility of man, it is permeated with emotional impulse (the group “Kiss”, “Thinker”, etc.) he is characterized by the courage of realistic quests, the vitality of images, and energetic pictorial modeling. The sculpture has a fluid form, acquiring a seemingly unfinished character, which makes his work similar to impressionism and at the same time allows one to create the impression of the painful birth of forms from elemental amorphous matter. The sculptor combined these qualities with the drama of the plan, the desire for philosophical reflections ("Bronze Age", "Citizens of Calais"). The artist Claude Monet called him the greatest of the greats. Rodin wrote the words: “Sculpture is the art of depressions and convexities.”

Everything has its origins somewhere in the past, including paintings that have changed with the times, and current trends are not clear to everyone. But everything new is well-forgotten old, and to understand modern painting, you don’t need to know the history of art from ancient times, you just need to remember painting XIX and XX centuries.

The middle of the 19th century was a time of change not only in history, but also in art. Everything that came before: classicism, romanticism, and especially academicism - movements limited to certain boundaries. In France in the 50s and 60s, trends in painting were set by the official Salon, but typical “Salon” art did not suit everyone, which explained the new trends that emerged. There was a revolutionary explosion in the painting of that time, which broke with centuries-old traditions and foundations. And one of the epicenters was Paris, where in the spring of 1874 young painters, among whom were Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, Renoir and Cézanne, organized their own exhibition. The works presented there were completely different from those in the salon. The artists used a different method - reflexes, shadows and light were conveyed with pure paints, individual strokes, the shape of each object seemed to dissolve in an air-light environment. No other direction in painting knew such methods. These effects helped me express my impressions of ever-changing things, nature, and people as much as possible. One journalist called the group “impressionists,” thereby wanting to show his disdain for young artists. But they accepted this term, and it eventually took root and came into active use, losing its negative meaning. This is how impressionism appeared, unlike all other trends in painting of the 19th century.

At first, the reaction to the innovation was more than hostile. Too bold and new painting no one wanted to buy, and they were afraid, because all the critics did not take the impressionists seriously, they laughed at them. Many said that the Impressionist artists wanted to achieve quick fame, they were dissatisfied with the sharp break with conservatism and academicism, as well as the unfinished and “sloppy” appearance of the work. But even hunger and poverty could not force the artists to abandon their beliefs, and they persisted until their paintings were finally recognized. But it took too long to wait for recognition; some impressionist artists were no longer alive.

As a result, the movement that originated in Paris in the 60s was of great importance for the development of the world art of the 19th century and XX centuries. After all, future directions in painting were based precisely on impressionism. Each subsequent style appeared in search of a new one. Post-impressionism was given birth to by the same impressionists who decided that their method was limited: deep and polysemantic symbolism was a response to painting that had “lost its meaning,” and modernism, even by its name, calls for something new. Of course, many changes have occurred in art since 1874, but all modern trends in painting, one way or another, they start from a fleeting Parisian impression.

Today, impressionism is perceived as a classic, but in the era of its formation it was a real revolutionary breakthrough in art. Innovation and ideas in this direction have completely changed artistic perception art of the 19th and 20th centuries. A modern impressionism in painting he inherits principles that have already become canonical and continues aesthetic searches in the transmission of sensations, emotions and light.

Prerequisites

There are several reasons for the emergence of impressionism; it is a whole complex of prerequisites that led to a real revolution in art. In the 19th century, a crisis was brewing in French painting; it was due to the fact that “official” criticism did not want to notice and allow various emerging new forms into galleries. Therefore, painting in impressionism became a kind of protest against the inertia and conservatism of generally accepted norms. Also, the origins of this movement should be sought in the trends inherent in the Renaissance and associated with attempts to convey living reality. Artists Venetian school are considered the first progenitors of impressionism, then the Spaniards took this path: El Greco, Goya, Velazquez, who directly influenced Manet and Renoir. He also played a role in the formation of this school. technical progress. Thus, the appearance of photography gave rise to new idea in art it’s about capturing momentary emotions and sensations. It is this instantaneous impression that the artists of the movement we are considering strive to “capture.” The development of the plein air school, which was founded by representatives of the Barbizon school, also had an influence on this trend.

History of impressionism

In the second half of the 19th century, a critical situation developed in French art. Representatives classical school they do not accept the innovations of young artists and do not allow them to attend the Salon - the only exhibition that opens the way to customers. A scandal broke out when the young Edouard Manet presented his work “Luncheon on the Grass.” The painting aroused the indignation of critics and the public, and the artist was forbidden to exhibit it. Therefore, Manet participates in the so-called “Salon of the Rejected” along with other painters who were not allowed to participate in the exhibition. The work received a huge response, and a circle of young artists began to form around Manet. They gathered in a cafe and discussed problems contemporary art, argued about new forms. A society of painters appears who will be called impressionists after one of Claude Monet’s works. This community included Pissarro, Renoir, Cezanne, Monet, Basil, Degas. The first exhibition of artists of this movement took place in 1874 in Paris and ended, like all subsequent ones, in failure. Actually, impressionism in music and painting covers a period of only 12 years, from the first exhibition to the last, held in 1886. Later, the movement begins to disintegrate into new movements, and some artists die. But this period brought about a real revolution in the minds of creators and the public.

Ideological principles

Unlike many other movements, painting in impressionism was not associated with deep philosophical views. The ideology of this school was momentary experience, impression. The artists did not set themselves social goals; they sought to convey the fullness and joy of life in everyday life. That's why genre system Impressionism was generally very traditional: landscapes, portraits, still lifes. This direction is not a union of people based on philosophical views, but a community of like-minded people, each of whom conducts his own quest to study the form of being. Impressionism lies precisely in the unique view of ordinary items, it focuses on individual experience.

Technique

It is quite easy to recognize painting in impressionism by some characteristic features. First of all, it is worth remembering that the artists of this movement were ardent lovers of color. They almost completely abandon black and brown in favor of a rich, bright palette, often heavily bleached. The Impressionist technique is characterized by short strokes. They strive for a general impression rather than careful drawing of details. The canvases are dynamic and intermittent, which corresponds to human perception. Painters strive to place colors on the canvas in such a way as to achieve coloristic intensity or proximity in the picture; they do not mix colors on the palette. Artists often worked plein air, and this was reflected in the technique, which did not have time to dry the previous layers. The paints were applied side by side or one on top of the other, and an opaque material was used, which made it possible to create the effect of an “inner glow.”

Main representatives in French painting

The birthplace of this movement is France; it was here that impressionism first appeared in painting. Artists of this school lived in Paris in the second half of the 19th century. They presented their works at 8 Impressionist exhibitions, and these paintings became classics of the movement. It is the Frenchmen Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, Morisot and others who are the progenitors of the movement we are considering. The most famous impressionist, of course, is Claude Monet, whose works fully embodied all the features of this movement. Also, the movement is rightly associated with the name of Auguste Renoir, who, with his main artistic task considered the transmission of the game of the sun; in addition, he was a master of sentimental portraiture. Impressionism also includes such outstanding artists like Van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin.

Impressionism in other countries

Gradually the direction is spreading in many countries, the French experience has been successfully picked up in others national cultures, although they have to talk more about individual works and techniques than about the consistent implementation of ideas. German painting in impressionism is represented primarily by the names of Lesser Ury, Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth. In the USA, ideas were implemented by J. Whistler, in Spain - by H. Sorolla, in England - by J. Sargent, in Sweden - by A. Zorn.

Impressionism in Russia

Russian art in the 19th century was significantly influenced by French culture, therefore domestic artists It was also not possible to avoid being carried away by the new trend. Russian impressionism in painting is most consistently and fruitfully represented in the works of Konstantin Korovin, as well as in the works of Igor Grabar, Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov. The peculiarities of the Russian school were the etude nature of the works.

What was impressionism in painting? The founding artists sought to capture momentary impressions of contact with nature, and Russian creators also tried to convey a deeper, philosophical meaning works.

Impressionism today

Despite the fact that almost 150 years have passed since the emergence of the movement, modern impressionism in painting has not lost its relevance today. Thanks to their emotionality and ease of perception, paintings in this style are very popular and even commercially successful. Therefore, many artists around the world are working in this direction. Thus, Russian impressionism in painting is presented in the new Moscow museum of the same name. Exhibitions are held there regularly modern authors, for example V. Koshlyakov, N. Bondarenko, B. Gladchenko and others.

Masterpieces

Modern lovers visual arts Impressionism in painting is often called their favorite direction. Paintings by artists of this school are sold at auctions at incredible prices, and collections in museums enjoy great public attention. The main masterpieces of impressionism are considered to be the paintings by C. Monet “Water Lilies” and “The Rising Sun”, O. Renoir “Ball at the Moulin de la Galette”, C. Pissarro “Boulevard Montmartre at Night” and “Boildier Bridge in Rouen on a Rainy Day”, E. . Degas "Absinthe", although this list can be continued almost endlessly.

Impressionism constituted an entire era in French art of the second half of the 19th century V. The hero of the impressionist paintings was light, and the task of the artists was to open people's eyes to the beauty of the world around them. Light and color could best be conveyed with quick, small, voluminous strokes. The impressionistic vision was prepared by the entire evolution of artistic consciousness, when movement began to be understood not only as movement in space, but as the general variability of the surrounding reality.

Impressionism - (French impressionnisme, from impression - impression), a movement in the art of the latter thirds of the XIX- beginning of the 20th century It developed in French painting in the late 1860s - early 70s. The name “impressionism” arose after the exhibition of 1874, at which C. Monet’s painting “Impression. Rising Sun". At the time of the maturity of impressionism (70s - first half of the 80s), it was represented by a group of artists (Monet, O. Renoir, E. Degas, C. Pissarro, A. Sisley, B. Morisot, etc.), who united for struggle for the renewal of art and overcoming official salon academism and organized 8 exhibitions for this purpose in 1874-86. One of the creators of impressionism was E. Manet, who was not part of this group, but back in the 60s and early 70s. who presented genre works in which he rethought the compositional and painting techniques of the masters of the 16th-18th centuries. applied to modern life, as well as scenes Civil War 1861-65 in the USA, the execution of the Parisian communards, giving them an acute political focus.

The impressionists depicted the world in perpetual motion, transition from one state to another. They began to paint a series of paintings, wanting to show how the same motif changes depending on the time of day, lighting, weather conditions, etc. (cycles “Boulevard Montmartre” by C. Pissarro, 1897; “Rouen Cathedral”, 1893- 95, and "Parliament of London", 1903-04, C. Monet). Artists found ways to reflect in their paintings the movement of clouds (A. Sisley. “Loing in Saint-Mamme”, 1882), the play of glare of sunlight (O. Renoir. “Swing”, 1876), gusts of wind (C. Monet. “Terrace in Sainte-Adresse", 1866), streams of rain (G. Caillebotte. "Hierarch. The Effect of Rain", 1875), falling snow (C. Pissarro. "Opera Passage. The Effect of Snow", 1898), rapid running of horses (E. Manet "Racing at Longchamp", 1865).

Now that heated debates about the meaning and role of impressionism are a thing of the past, hardly anyone would dare to dispute that the impressionist movement was a further step in the development of European realistic painting. “Impressionism is, first of all, the art of observing reality that has reached unprecedented sophistication.”

Striving for maximum spontaneity and accuracy in conveying the world around them, they began to write primarily in outdoors and raised the importance of the sketch from life, almost replacing the traditional type of painting, carefully and slowly created in the studio.

The Impressionists showed the beauty of the real world, in which every moment is unique. Consistently clarifying their palette, the Impressionists freed painting from earthy and brown varnishes and paints. Conventional, “museum” blackness in their canvases gives way to an infinitely diverse play of reflexes and colored shadows. They immeasurably expanded the possibilities of fine art, opening not only the world of sun, light and air, but also the beauty of London fogs, the restless atmosphere of life big city, the scattering of its night lights and the rhythm of incessant movement.

Due to the very method of working in the open air, the landscape, including the city landscape they discovered, occupied a very important place in the art of the Impressionists.

However, one should not assume that the painting of the Impressionists was characterized only by a “landscape” perception of reality, for which critics often reproached them. The thematic and plot range of their work was quite wide. Interest in man, and in particular in modern life in France, in a broad sense, was inherent in a number of representatives of this art direction. His life-affirming, fundamentally democratic pathos clearly opposed the bourgeois world order. In this one cannot help but see the continuity of impressionism in relation to the main line of development of French realistic art XIX century.

By depicting landscapes and forms using dots of color, the Impressionists questioned the solidity and materiality of the things around them. But the artist cannot be content with one impression; he needs a drawing that organizes the whole picture. Since the mid-1880s, a new generation of impressionist artists associated with this art direction has been conducting more and more experiments in their painting, as a result of which the number of directions (varieties) of impressionism is growing, art groups and venues for exhibitions of their work.

Artists of the new movement did not mix different colors on the palette, but painted in pure colors. By placing a stroke of one paint next to another, they often left the surface of the paintings rough. It was noticed that many colors become brighter when next to each other. This technique is called the contrast effect of complementary colors.

Impressionist artists were sensitive to the slightest changes in the weather, as they worked on location and wanted to create an image of a landscape where the motif, colors, and lighting would merge into a single poetic image urban view or rural areas. The impressionists gave great importance color and light due to pattern and volume. The clear contours of objects disappeared, contrasts and light and shade were forgotten. They sought to make the picture like an open window through which the real world is visible. This a new style influenced many artists of that time.

It should be noted that, like any movement in art, impressionism has its advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantages of Impressionism:

French impressionism did not raise philosophical problems and did not even try to penetrate under the colored surface of everyday life. Instead, impressionism focuses on superficiality, the fluidity of a moment, mood, lighting, or angle of view.

Like the art of the Renaissance (Renaissance), impressionism is built on the characteristics and skills of perceiving perspective. At the same time, the Renaissance vision explodes with proven subjectivity and relativity human perception, which makes color and shape autonomous components of the image. For impressionism, it is not so important what is depicted in the picture, but how it is depicted is important.

Their paintings represented only positive aspects life, did not interfere with social problems, and avoided such problems as hunger, disease, and death. This later led to a split among the Impressionists themselves.

Advantages of impressionism:

The advantages of impressionism as a movement include democracy. By inertia, art in the 19th century was considered a monopoly of aristocrats, upper strata population. They were the main customers for paintings and monuments, and they were the main buyers of paintings and sculptures. Plots with the hard work of peasants, the tragic pages of modern times, the shameful aspects of wars, poverty, and social unrest were condemned, disapproved, and not bought. Criticism of the blasphemous morality of society in the paintings of Theodore Gericault and Francois Millet found response only among supporters of the artists and a few experts.

The Impressionists took quite a compromise, intermediate position on this issue. Biblical, literary, mythological, and historical subjects inherent in official academicism were discarded. On the other hand, they fervently desired recognition, respect, even awards. Indicative is the activity of Edouard Manet, who for years sought recognition and awards from the official Salon and its administration.

Instead, a vision of everyday life and modernity emerged. Artists often painted people in motion, during fun or relaxation, presented the appearance of a certain place under certain lighting, and nature was also the motive of their works. Subjects of flirting, dancing, being in a cafe and theater, boating, on beaches and in gardens were taken. Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a series of small holidays, parties, pleasant times outside the city or in a friendly environment (a number of paintings by Renoir, Manet and Claude Monet). The Impressionists were among the first to paint in the air, without finishing their work in the studio.

impressionism manet painting

fr. impression - impression) - a direction in art of the last third of the 19th century - the beginning. twentieth centuries, whose representatives began to paint landscapes and genre scenes straight from life, trying to convey very pure and intense colors sun glare, the blow of the wind, the rustle of grass, the movement of the city crowd. The impressionists sought to capture the real world in its mobility and variability in the most natural and unbiased way, and to convey their fleeting impressions.

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IMPRESSIONISM

French impressionnisme, from impression - impression), a direction in the art of con. 1860 – early 1880s Most clearly manifested in painting. Leading representatives: C. Monet, O. Renoir, C. Pissarro, A. Guillaumin, B. Morisot, M. Cassatt, A. Sisley, G. Caillebotte and J. F. Bazille. E. Manet and E. Degas exhibited their paintings with them, although the style of their works cannot be called completely impressionistic. The name “Impressionists” was assigned to a group of young artists after their first joint exhibition in Paris (1874; Monet, Renoir, Pizarro, Degas, Sisley, etc.), which caused furious indignation among the public and critics. One of the presented paintings by C. Monet (1872) was called “Impression. Sunrise” (“L’impression. Soleil levant”), and the reviewer mockingly called the artists “impressionists” - “impressionists.” The painters performed under this name at the third joint exhibition (1877). At the same time, they began to publish the Impressionist magazine, each issue of which was dedicated to the work of one of the group members.

The impressionists sought to capture the world around them in its constant variability and fluidity, and to impartially express their immediate impressions. Impressionism was based on the latest discoveries in optics and color theory (the spectral decomposition of a solar ray into seven colors of the rainbow); in this he is in tune with the spirit scientific analysis, characteristic of con. 19th century However, the impressionists themselves did not try to determine theoretical basis of his art, insisting on the spontaneity and intuitiveness of the artist’s creativity. Artistic principles the impressionists were not united. Monet painted landscapes only in direct contact with nature, in the open air (en plein air), and even built a workshop in a boat. Degas worked in the workshop from memories or using photographs. Unlike representatives of later radical movements, artists did not go beyond the Renaissance illusory-spatial system based on the use of direct perspective. They firmly adhered to the method of working from life, which they had elevated to main principle creativity. Artists sought to “paint what you see” and “the way you see.” The consistent application of this method entailed the transformation of all the foundations of the existing pictorial system: color, composition, spatial structure. Pure paints were applied to the canvas in small separate strokes: multi-colored “dots” lay side by side, mixing into a colorful spectacle not on the palette or on the canvas, but in the viewer’s eye. The Impressionists achieved an unprecedented sonority of color and an unprecedented richness of shades. The brushstroke became an independent means of expression, filling the surface of the painting with a living, shimmering vibration of color particles. The canvas was likened to a mosaic shimmering with precious colors. In previous paintings, black, gray, brown shades; In the paintings of the Impressionists, the colors shone brightly. The Impressionists did not use chiaroscuro to convey volumes; they abandoned dark shadows, and the shadows in their paintings also became colored. Artists widely used additional tones (red and green, yellow and violet), the contrast of which increased the intensity of the sound of color. In Monet's paintings, colors lightened and dissolved in the radiance of rays of sunlight, local colors acquired many shades.

The impressionists depicted the world around us in perpetual motion, transition from one state to another. They began to paint a series of paintings, wanting to show how the same motif changes depending on the time of day, lighting, weather conditions, etc. (cycles “Boulevard Montmartre” by C. Pissarro, 1897; “Rouen Cathedral”, 1893– 95, and "Parliament of London", 1903–04, C. Monet). Artists found ways to reflect in their paintings the movement of clouds (A. Sisley. “Loing in Saint-Mamme”, 1882), the play of glare of sunlight (O. Renoir. “Swing”, 1876), gusts of wind (C. Monet. “Terrace in Sainte-Adresse", 1866), streams of rain (G. Caillebotte. "Hierarch. The Effect of Rain", 1875), falling snow (C. Pissarro. "Opera Passage. The Effect of Snow", 1898), rapid running of horses (E. Manet "Racing at Longchamp", 1865).

The Impressionists developed new principles of composition. Previously, the space of a painting was likened to a stage; now the captured scenes resembled a snapshot, a photographic frame. Invented in the 19th century. photography had a significant influence on the composition of impressionistic paintings, especially in the work of E. Degas, who himself was a passionate photographer and, in his own words, sought to take the ballerinas he depicted by surprise, to see them “as if through keyhole"when their poses and body lines are natural, expressive and authentic. Creating paintings in the open air, the desire to capture rapidly changing lighting forced artists to speed up their work, painting “alla prima” (in one go), without preliminary sketches. Fragmentation, “randomness” of the composition and dynamic painting style created a feeling of special freshness in the paintings of the Impressionists.

The favorite impressionistic genre was landscape; the portrait also represented a kind of “landscape of a face” (O. Renoir. “Portrait of the Actress J. Samary”, 1877). In addition, artists significantly expanded the range of painting subjects, turning to topics previously considered unworthy of attention: folk festivals, horse races, picnics of artistic bohemia, the backstage life of theaters, etc. However, their paintings do not have a detailed plot or detailed narration; human life is dissolved in nature or in the atmosphere of the city. The impressionists painted not events, but moods, shades of feelings. The artists fundamentally rejected historical and literary themes, avoided portraying dramatic, dark sides life (war, disaster, etc.). They sought to free art from the fulfillment of social, political and moral tasks, from the obligation to evaluate the depicted phenomena. Artists sang the beauty of the world, being able to turn the most everyday motif (room renovation, gray London fog, smoke of steam locomotives, etc.) into an enchanting spectacle (G. Caillebotte. “Parquet Boys”, 1875; C. Monet. “Gare Saint-Lazare” , 1877).

In 1886, the last exhibition of the Impressionists took place (O. Renoir and C. Monet did not participate in it). By this time, significant disagreements had emerged between group members. The possibilities of the impressionist method were exhausted, and each of the artists began to look for their own path in art.

Impressionism as a whole creative method was a phenomenon of predominantly French art, but the work of the Impressionists had an impact on the whole European painting. The desire for renewal artistic language, brightening the colorful palette, exposing painting techniques have now firmly entered the arsenal of artists. In other countries, J. Whistler (England and the USA), M. Lieberman, L. Corinth (Germany), and H. Sorolla (Spain) were close to impressionism. Many Russian artists experienced the influence of impressionism (V. A. Serov, K. A. Korovin, I. E. Grabar, etc.).

In addition to painting, impressionism was embodied in the work of some sculptors (E. Degas and O. Rodin in France, M. Rosso in Italy, P. P. Trubetskoy in Russia) in the living free modeling of fluid soft forms, which creates challenging game light on the surface of the material and the feeling of incompleteness of the work; the poses capture the moment of movement and development. In music, the works of C. Debussy ("Sails", "Mists", "Reflections in Water", etc.) are close to impressionism.

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