6.3 Impressionism

Impressionism

• aimed to capture the momentary, sensory effect of a scene - the impression objects made on the eye in a fleeting instant

• loose brushwork & lightened palettes

• sought to capture the brain’s perception of light and its optical effects

• outdoor scenes

Musée d’Orsay

• was a railway station & hotel (Gare d'Orsay), now a museum

• the most extensive collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works from famous names such as  Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. 

Édouard Manet

• “Father of Modernism”

• was a key figure who transitioned from the more realist approach to portraying subjects

• Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon by the Grass)

• Olympia

• A Bar at the Folies-Bergere

Claude Monet

• leader of the French Impressionist movement

• master of color and observation of light and atmosphere, making him one of the best landscape artists in the history of art

• impression, sunrise

• water lilies

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

• best known for his paintings of bustling Parisian modernity and delicate domesticity, captured in shimmering, dappled light

• Dance at the Moulin de la Galette

• Luncheon of the Boating Party

Edgar Degas

• compositions of the female figure

• the ballet class

• musicians in the orchestra

Gustave Caillebotte

• depictions of daily life while imitating photographic characteristics like sharp focuses, framing, and cropping

• The Floor Scraper

• Paris Street, Rainy Day

John Singer Sargent

• known for his depictions of high society figures in Paris, London, and New York

• The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit

• Portrait of Madame X