Impressionism

The works of the Impressionists were not so much subjective recordings of a neutral subject matter as some critics at the time and since have argued; rather they were conscious attempts to paint the modern world in a sincere, unaffected and appropriate manner. Such a program gave scope for each artist to follow an individual path; as Renoir said, "each one sings his own song if he has the voice." The Impressionist vision springs directly from the experience of the city, its suburbs, and the surrounding countryside. In Impressionist paintings we find images of holiday beaches and suburban spots, ideal for picnics or romantic encounters, together with the spectacle of the city, the parks, the ballet, the dance-hall, the theater, the circus, the cafés, even the brothels. We encounter the lounger, the tourist, the middle-class family at lunch or at leisure, the young clerks and milliners enjoying their free time in the cafés and restaurants in the immediate environs of the capital. - Introduction.

During the 1870s and 1880s, a loose group of French artists, including Pissarro, Monet, and Renoir, adopted a style of painting and subject matter that challenged the art prompted by the Academie Francaise and the Salons where "official" assumptions about the meaning of painting prevailed. What has been called "the revolutionary nature of the Impressionist enterprise" emerged from political radicalism, belief in science and individualism, and a view of art true to modern life and to immediate visual perception. In all these respects, Impressionism initiated the radical tendencies of modern art. Today the revolutionary aims of Impressionist artists are generally overlooked. Impressionist art has been marketed more successfully than any other style: the price of Impressionist paintings surpasses that of the Old Masters, exhibitions draw blockbuster crowds, and books and mass reproductions are ubiquitous. In her perceptive new survey, Belinda Thomson challenges both sentimen