French Impressionism

It was a dappled and daubed harbor scene that gave Impressionism its name. When Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet was first exhibited in April 1874, critics seized upon the work’s title and its loose stylistic rendering of light and motion upon water to deride this new, impressionistic tendency in art.As with many seminal art movements, the critics got their comeuppance. Today, French Impressionism is close contender for the world’s favorite period of painting. With blockbuster exhibitions, record-breaking auction prices, and packed museums, the works once dismissed as unfinished or imprecise are now beloved for their atmospheric evocation of time and place, as well as the stylistic flair of rapid brushstrokes upon canvas.Despite its popularity and a whole host of publications, many areas and artists of Impressionism remain inadequately researched. This book fills the gap, celebrating such masters as Monet, Renoir, Manet, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, van Gogh, Seurat, and Signac, but also raising the profile of unjustly neglected pioneers such as Berthe Morisot, Lucien Pissarro, and Gustave Caillebotte. From water lilies to the verdant countryside, rosy pigments to moonlit scenes, this is the complete exploration of a French revolution in color.