Impression, soleil levant de Claude Monet (Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris)
Do you know anything about Impressionism? Today I've put together a quiz and it's about Impressionist painters.
Since I've never done anything like this before, I'll start with something simple. Simple here refers to the structure of the quiz, not the content. I hope you'll have to think a bit.
In any case, the question is clear. I show you a painting, and you tell me who the artist is.
Have fun!
Impressionism
Impressionism is a style of 19th century painting. It originated in France, but spread over large parts of Europe.
The art movement was named after a painting by Claude Monet. His landscape painting "Impression, soleil levant" was created in 1872 and was shown during the first Impressionist exhibition.
The paintings of Monet, Cézanne, Pissaro, Renoir, Degas and other artists had failed and been rejected at the Paris Salon. So they organized their own art exhibition in 1874. At first, however, they were met with much ridicule and criticism.
The critic Louis Leroy called the painters "peintres impressionistes", but this was not meant nicely. He accused them of sketchy bungling and superficiality. Unintentionally, he thus coined the stylistic term for a whole new art movement.
The Main Idea
Impressionist artists began to reflect their perception instead of reality. Contours dissolved, the brushstroke became fast and often remained visible. The artists' intention was to capture the mood of the moment through colour. They therefore typically painted "pleinair", i.e. outside. Light played a decisive role in Impressionism. Claude Monet painted his famous water lily pictures again and again to capture the different effects of light. He even painted Rouen Cathedral a whole 30 times.
By detaching itself from the depiction of reality - a task that photography had long since taken over in the 19th century - Impressionism paved the way for art into the modern age.
Would you like to read more about Impressionism? Then you might also be interested in my blog post on the Édouard Manet's 130th birthday.