Impressionism and Post Impressionism
Impressionism (1865–1885)
Post Impressionism (1885–1910)
Water Lily Pool by Claude Monet
Impressionism can be described as the 19th-century avant-garde art movement that originated in France as a reaction against the established art of the French Academy and the government-sponsored annual exhibitions (Salons). The aim was to accurately portray visual impressions by painting scenes and subjects on the spot, using visible brushstrokes to record the changing qualities of light and movement. Impressionism was considered controversial and boundary-breaking in its time and artists like Monet, Degas and Renoir were shunned by the art establishment, causing quite a stir with their radical new style of painting.
Édouard Manet, considered the father of impressionism, has the first, second and seventh entries. His Dejuner Sur l’Herbe (Lunch on the Grass) and Olympia, completed in the early 1860s, challenged the established way of painting but were shunned by the Academy des Beaux Arts and attacked by the critics. Another one of his paintings Bar at the Folies Bergere (1881) was also heavily criticized, but later earned high praise as a brilliant illustration of Impressionism movement artwork.
The 10 greatest painters of the Impressionism (1865–1885) and Post Impressionism (1885–1910) period were:
- Claude Monet
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Vincent van Gogh
- Edgar Degas
- Édouard Manet
- Paul Cézanne
- Camille Pissarro
- Berthe Morisot
- Jean Béraud
- Paul Gauguin
The 10 greatest paintings of the Impressionism (1865–1885) and Post Impressionism (1885–1910) period were:
- Water Lily Pool by Claude Monet
- Luncheon at the Boating Lake by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Cafe Terrace at Night by Vincent van Gogh
- Dancing Class by Edgar Degas
- Bullfight by Édouard Manet
- Card Players by Paul Cézanne
- Boulevard Montmatre by Camille Pissarro
- The Port of Nice by Berthe Morisot
- Boulevard des Capucines by Jean Béraud
- Tahitian Women on the Beach by Paul Gauguin