Impressionist paintings - masterpieces of masters of the past and our contemporaries

It is believed that art has no boundaries. Nevertheless, people decided to divide the works of artists into genres, in which you can easily get confused, because the boundaries of styles are conditional. Today we will talk about one of the main trends in painting - impressionism.

The emergence of impressionism

Impressionism as a genre of art emerged in France in the 1870s. The origin of this style was the creation of a painting by K. Monet "The Impression of the Sunrise" (1872). One journalist called the artist an impressionist, but with a negative connotation. But soon it was forgotten, and the picture gave birth to a new genre.

In 1874, his first separate exhibition was conducted by artists-impersonists. The paintings exhibited on it were criticized for lack of meaning, looseness and poor drawing. However, the artists did not stop and continued to organize such events, declaring their art.

Impressionism was a purely French phenomenon. Artists from other countries were able to adopt certain features, but not in full measure.

It was the Impressionists who first moved away from the universally recognized standards and templates of academic writing, thus giving a tremendous impetus to the development of art. They were deeply engaged in researching flowers and new writing techniques, which ultimately led us to today's diversity.

It should be noted that Impressionism had a serious influence and inspired its novelty of representatives and other spheres of art: sculpture, music and literature.

What do Impressionist paintings tell?

Impressionism is focused on the image and the impression it gives the viewer. Impressionist paintings often depict ordinary scenes from life: urban fuss or landscapes. Their work gives the audience those fleeting impressions experienced by the painters themselves. Impressionism does not notice problems or negatives, it shows exclusively the positive aspects of life.

Basically in the pictures you can see such subjects as picnics, boating, dancing, tea drinking, outdoor games and other joys of life. People in the pictures are not frozen, and moving, playing, laughing, the Impressionists most often depicted. The paintings allow us to plunge into the living reality of past centuries, to see what kind of situation surrounded people of the XIX century.

Features of paintings of the Impressionists

The talent of reflection on the canvas of instant first impression is the main feature of all artists. They always created from nature, without any sketching, catching and passing the general mood. Impressionist paintings do not have a deep meaning or hidden content, they represent everyday life, but they do it not simply, but masterfully. When you look at such pictures, the viewer immediately has a certain thought or emotion, which remains for a while after viewing.

Impressionists developed a special style of writing. The paintings written by them are often distinguished by fuzzy lines and individual strokes of primary colors. The fact is that they passed all colors with a standard set of colors, skillfully setting smears. Much attention in the works they paid to the play of light, to the sun's rays and shadows, tried to create a contrast. Demonstrative in this regard can serve as a picture of O. Renoir's "The Ball in the Moulin de la Galette" (1876).

Great impressionists of the past

Since the creation of the current, there have been many artists who created in the style of impressionism, but very few can be called truly great. So, the most famous Impressionist artists are K. Monet, O. Renoir, A. Sisley and K. Pissarro. In general, impressionism as a trend was particularly popular at the end of the XIX century, it was then that created the true masters.

This trend in painting was the beginning, inspiration for other not less eminent artists - V. van Gogh, P. Cezanne, P. Gauguin. These artists became the founders of post-impressionism, which made it its goal to abandon the image of real life, the transition to an image of its foundations.

Modern Impressionists

Do not think that the direction ceased to exist after its heyday. Until now, there are artists who choose Impressionism for their work.

The paintings of contemporary impressionists cause just as much admiration as the paintings of the past. To date, many masters are creating in this genre, but which of them is most worthy of this title, time will tell. Nevertheless, there are several artists, the canvases are positioned as Impressionist paintings. Photos of their works are presented below.

Take, for example, an artist named Kent R. Wallis (Kent R. Wallis). His paintings are distinguished by bright, saturated colors, with which he creates magnificent landscapes.

Also fascinating are paintings by the artist I.J. Paprocki (EJ Paprocki).

In its canvases, flowers, leaves and other small elements are performed very realistically, while the rest of the background is performed by strokes. This allows him to convey the beauty of the details and at the same time the general first impressions typical of impressionism.