Impressionism

Impressionism revolutionized painting by abandoning the studio in favor of the open air, capturing fleeting effects of light and atmosphere rather than polished, finished surfaces. When Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and their circle exhibited independently in Paris in 1874, critics mocked them. The word 'Impressionism' was coined as an insult, derived from Monet's Impression, Sunrise. Within two decades, it had transformed the entire direction of Western art.

The Impressionists broke every academic rule: they used pure, unmixed color applied in visible brushstrokes; they painted shadows in color rather than grey or black; they prioritized the sensation of a moment over accurate documentation. Monet's series paintings, the Haystacks, the Rouen Cathedral, the Water Lilies, pushed this investigation of light to its logical extreme. Degas brought the same sensibility to the ballet and the racecourse; Renoir to the pleasure gardens and riverside restaurants of Paris. The movement laid the essential groundwork for all modern art that followed.