What is Impressionism?
What unites seemingly diverse artists like Monet and Degas? Critics generally agree that what unites these artists is the concept of vision and what they conceive as priorities to transpose onto canvas, without any conditioning. So much so that the right distance to view an Impressionist work is, as stated by Renoir, the distance of the artist, that is, the gaze of the painter capturing instantaneous impressions.
The painting itself is the true subject of the Impressionist painting.
The Beginnings of Landscape Painting in France
In 1819, the Prix de Rome for landscape painting was established, a scholarship for students of the French Academy of Fine Arts. Before that, landscapes were studied and painted indoors in one’s own studio; decisive were the experiences and studies of Roman landscapes by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot. Although he did not yet paint en plein air, he is indeed a precursor of the study of light and chromatic tones. It will be necessary to wait for the attention towards the movement of the Macchiaioli developed in Italy and the teachers of the Fontainebleau School to arrive at the conception of the pictorial fragmentation of light and colour that will characterize the Impressionist movement.
1863 Salon des Refusés – Paris
The number of works rejected by the Salon equals 50% of the works submitted. Napoleon III decides to leave the judgment to the public. The malleable opinion of the people confirmed the choices of the jury, creating impatience towards the rejected works and artists in favor of academic studies. The works were exhibited in the first rooms, including Manet with three works: Young Man in Costume, Luncheon on the Grass, Miss in Costume. The attention was drawn to Luncheon, considered the most scandalous painting due to the presence of a nude woman. In the same year, Monet meets Renoir, Bazille, and Sisley. In April, they go together to the forest of Fontainebleau following the footsteps of Corot, to immerse themselves in nature, studying its colors and play of light. Monet undertakes a series of studies on Manet’s scandalous Luncheon on the Grass, completed with the creation of a series of paintings that do not arouse much interest from critics.
1869
Monet spends much of his time on the island of La Grenouillère, painting in close contact with Renoir. Located on the Seine, near Paris, it is a perfect place to study and practice reproducing the play of light on water on canvas.
1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War
Fought between 1870 and 1871, it will see the defeat of France in favor of Prussia. Paris is besieged, and many artists flee the city. Monet flees to London, to avoid having to serve in the military, as Bazille does, finding death in battle. Degas and Renoir are also enlisted. In London, Monet meets the gallery owner Paul Durand-Ruel and the painter Pissarro, with whom he spends a lot of time in London museums studying the works of Constable, Turner, and Gainsborough.
1872
The gallery owner and merchant Durand-Ruel acquires the works of Monet, Degas, Pissarro, Sisley, and Renoir. The post-war period marks a fragmentation in the nascent Impressionist group. Degas temporarily moves to New Orleans; Renoir has a crisis period, as does Sisley. Monet and Pissarro decide not to exhibit publicly, not even at the Salon des Refusés in 1873.
1874 First Impressionist Exhibition Nadar’s photographer’s studio
The exhibition stands out for some display arrangements, such as the choice to exhibit the paintings in alphabetical order by artist and the use of only two registers on the walls. The exhibition received many criticisms and was denounced as “an attack on healthy artistic customs, on the cult of form and on the respect for the masters.” The term Impressionism was coined on this occasion, used negatively by the critic Louis Leroy in the Charivari magazine in reference to one of Monet’s works: Impression, Sunrise. Among the invited artists is the Italian Giuseppe De Nittis.
1876 Second Impressionist Exhibition Durand-Ruel Gallery
Compared to the first exhibition, this one includes only about twenty artists. Caillebotte is added to these.
1877 Third Impressionist Exhibition Durand-Ruel Gallery
Degas is opposed; he does not paint en plein air and is not a “touch” painter but still uses drawing. Therefore, the title “independent, realist, impressionist artists” is chosen. Degas chooses the term realist, but he does not intend to approach Courbet and his Realism, as unlike the latter, Degas’s works have no political intent but aim to represent the most real aspects of his subjects. For example, of the ballerinas, he will prefer to portray the most hidden aspects, the behind-the-scenes, the physical fatigue of ballet.
1879 Fourth Exhibition of Independent Artists
Renoir, among the founders and leading figures of the group, does not exhibit. He will exhibit at the Salon. For this reason, Degas proposes the exclusion from the group of those who decide to exhibit at the Salon, and vice versa, those who exhibit or have exhibited at the Salon cannot be admitted among the Independent Artists. The number of group members drops to fifteen, among whom Paul Gauguin is added, but he is recruited into the group at the last moment and cannot exhibit.
1880 Fifth Exhibition
Renoir and Monet are the notable absentees. Even Monet is admitted to the Salon. Degas remains, who admits to the group artists stylistically similar to him, including the Italian Federico Zandomeneghi.
1881 Sixth Exhibition
The most interesting work will be a sculpture: Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, of which the original wax has been lost, now replaced by a bronze copy.
1882 Seventh Exhibition
Renoir and Monet return, but to remain consistent with his position, Degas decides to leave.
1886 Eighth and Final Exhibition
Degas returns with a series of pastels depicting working women and intimate moments. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac are added, to whom the birth of the Neo-Impressionist movement is historically attributed. Seurat presents the famous A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.