Jennings 1

Ashley Jennings
Professor Larrimore
Art History 201
October, 14 2015
Impressionist Technique, Composition, and Subject Matter
In the late nineteenth century, the Royal Academy of Arts in France held a juried art show
called the Salon de Paris to select the years best works of art. When a group of artists including
Claude Monet, Pierre-August Renoir, and Edgar Degas began painting in Paris, the Salon jury
rejected them as painters of mere impressions. The criticism gave the Impressionist movement
its name (Douma 1).
Impressionist paintings are noteworthy because of their technique, composition, and
subject matter. Artists used short brushstrokes, pure unblended colors, and natural lighting. These
techniques favored the essence of the subject over details, and created a vibrant, spontaneous
effect. For example, Impressionist artists often applied pigments side by side, letting the viewers
eye mix the colors. In a painting such as Monets Impression: Sunrise, the shadows are blue and
purple to reflect the fading sky (Kleiner 801-802).
Impressionists composed their paintings to imitate candid photographs, which were
becoming popular at the time. Paintings showed a moment in time, such as the changing light on
a landscape or building. People did not pose, but were caught in the middle of action, as in
Degas The Dance Class (Metreopolitan Museum Art 1).1
The technique and composition of Impressionist paintings suited their subjects, which
were typically landscapes and common, ordinary scenes of modern life. Landscape paintings
1 Monets famous series of paintings of the Rouen Cathedral actually have light as their
subject.
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were created outdoors (en plein air) to record the painters impression of the scene and the everchanging light. Many Impressionist paintings depict the city of Paris after it was renovated
during the 1870s to feature wide boulevards, public spaces, and grand architecture. Following are
prominent Impressionist paintings that take Paris as their subject:
Renoir, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (1876)
Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day (1877)
Pissarro, Boulevard Montmartre (1897)
By the end of the nineteenth century, Impressionism was the major western movement in
visual arts. It combined innovations in technique, composition, and content to present a fresh
way of painting that captured movement, the play of light on surfaces, and fleeting moments in
modern life.

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Works Cited
Douma, Michael. Impressionism: The Inovations and Influence. n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art through the Ages: The western Perspective. Boston:
Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
Metreopolitan Museum Art. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: The Dance Class. n.d.
Web. 10 Oct. 2015.

This file created specifically for Roberto Porras