Impressionism

Definition writing I composed in the teacher training program at Busan University of Foreign Studies in fall, 2012.

     One day in the late 19th century, a critic coined a term in a satirical review on Claude Monet’s painting, “Impression, Sunrise.” This disapproval of the new style ironically labeled the name of art movement, Impressionism. However, how did this newborn style, which once received a scornful laugh, revolutionize art? First, the theme and brushwork displayed in Impressionism was not like the preceding style. Unlike Neoclassicism, which looks to ancient Rome and Greece for inspiration, Impressionist artists refused to embody historical scenes or mythological heroes. Neoclassical painters, working in their studio, placed an emphasis on composition and proportion as well as accurate costumes and settings as seen in “Oath of the Horatii” by David and “Oedipus and the Sphinx” by Ingres. On the other hand, Impressionists got out of their studio and rendered landscape and everyday lives of ordinary people they saw in reality. They especially used rough, quick brushstrokes to capture the passing moment, whereas previous painters sought to depict each material’s inherent texture. Second, the sunlight and colors played an important role in Impressionism. Though Impressionism is seemingly similar to Realism, which shows objects or scenes as they appear just like photography does, Impressionist artists focused on how the sunlight affected the landscape and color, depending on weather, the passing of time, and the angle of the sunlight. They attempted to express things subjectively with various colors which they saw in nature rather than create its exact representations. For instance, Monet produced a series of works on the same subject such as “Haystacks” and “Rouen Cathedral,” but each painting was set at a different time with different lighting. As a result, each painting though featuring the same subject has a unique value of its own. Due to the aforementioned characteristics, Impressionism established a revolutionary foothold in modern art history and became a precursor of many 21st century painting styles; Fauvism later originates from Gauguin’s primary colors in exotic scenes, and Cubism is derived from Cezanne’s three-dimensional viewpoint shown in his still lifes.