Impressionism of contemporary artists. Famous French impressionist artists. Frédéric Bazille: "Pink Dress"

Impressionism is a movement in painting that originated in France in XIX-XX centuries, which is an artistic attempt to capture some moment of life in all its variability and mobility. Impressionist paintings are like a well-washed photograph, reviving in fantasy the continuation of the story seen. In this article we will look at the 10 most famous impressionists in the world. Fortunately, talented artists much more than ten, twenty or even a hundred, so let's focus on those names that you definitely need to know.

In order not to offend either the artists or their admirers, the list is given in Russian alphabetical order.

1. Alfred Sisley

This French painter English origin considered the most famous landscape painter second half of the 19th century century. His collection contains more than 900 paintings, of which the most famous are “Rural Alley”, “Frost in Louveciennes”, “Bridge in Argenteuil”, “Early Snow in Louveciennes”, “Lawns in Spring”, and many others.

2. Van Gogh

Known around the world sad story about his ear (by the way, he did not cut off his entire ear, but only the lobe), Wang Gon became popular only after his death. And during his life he was able to sell one single painting, 4 months before his death. They say he was both an entrepreneur and a priest, but he often found himself in psychiatric hospitals due to depression, so all the rebelliousness of his existence resulted in legendary works.

3. Camille Pissarro

Pissarro was born on the island of St. Thomas, into a family of bourgeois Jews, and was one of the few impressionists whose parents encouraged his passion and soon sent him to Paris to study. Most of all, the artist liked nature, he depicted it in all colors, and to be more precise, Pissarro had a special talent for choosing the softness of colors, compatibility, after which air seemed to appear in the paintings.

4. Claude Monet

Since childhood, the boy decided that he would become an artist, despite family prohibitions. Having moved to Paris on his own, Claude Monet plunged into gray everyday life hard life: two years of service in the armed forces in Algeria, litigation with creditors due to poverty, illness. However, one gets the feeling that the difficulties did not oppress, but, on the contrary, inspired the artist to create such bright pictures, like “Impression, Sunrise”, “Houses of Parliament in London”, “Bridge to Europe”, “Autumn in Argenteuil”, “On the Shores of Trouville”, and many others.

5. Konstantin Korovin

It's nice to know that among the French, the parents of impressionism, we can proudly place our compatriot, Konstantin Korovin. passionate love to nature helped him intuitively give unimaginable liveliness to a static picture, thanks to the connection suitable colors, width of strokes, choice of theme. It is impossible to pass by his paintings “Pier in Gurzuf”, “Fish, Wine and Fruit”, “ Autumn landscape», « Moonlight night. Winter" and a series of his works dedicated to Paris.

6. Paul Gauguin

Until the age of 26, Paul Gauguin did not even think about painting. He was an entrepreneur and had a large family. However, when I first saw the paintings of Camille Pissarro, I decided that I would definitely start painting. Over time, the artist’s style changed, but the most famous impressionistic paintings are “Garden in the Snow”, “At the Cliff”, “On the Beach in Dieppe”, “Nude”, “Palm Trees in Martinique” and others.

7. Paul Cezanne

Cezanne, unlike most of his colleagues, became famous during his lifetime. He managed to organize his own exhibition and earn considerable income from it. People knew a lot about his paintings - he, like no one else, learned to combine the play of light and shadow, placed a loud emphasis on right and wrong geometric shapes, the severity of the themes of his paintings was in harmony with romance.

8. Pierre Auguste Renoir

Until the age of 20, Renoir worked as a fan decorator for his older brother, and only then moved to Paris, where he met Monet, Basil and Sisley. This acquaintance helped him in the future to take the path of impressionism and become famous on it. Renoir is known as the author of sentimental portraits, among his most outstanding works are “On the Terrace”, “A Walk”, “Portrait of the Actress Jeanne Samary”, “The Lodge”, “Alfred Sisley and His Wife”, “On the Swing”, “The Paddling Pool” and a lot others.

9. Edgar Degas

If you haven't heard of Blue Dancers, Ballet Rehearsal, Ballet school" and "Absinthe" - hurry up to learn about the work of Edgar Degas. The selection of original colors, unique themes for paintings, a sense of movement of the picture - all this and much more made Degas one of the most famous artists peace.

10. Edouard Manet

Don't confuse Manet with Monet - they are two different people who worked at the same time and in the same artistic direction. Manet was always attracted to scenes of everyday life, unusual appearances and types, as if accidentally “caught” moments, subsequently captured for centuries. Among Manet’s famous paintings: “Olympia”, “Luncheon on the Grass”, “Bar at the Folies Bergere”, “The Flutist”, “Nana” and others.

If you have even the slightest opportunity to see the paintings of these masters live, you will forever fall in love with impressionism!

Impressionism is one of the most famous destinations French painting, if not the most famous. And it originated in the late 60s and early 70s of the 19th century and largely influenced the further development of art of that time.

Impressionism in painting

The name itself " impressionism"was coined by French art critic named Louis Leroy after visiting the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, where he criticized Claude Monet's painting "Impression: Rising Sun"("impression" translated into French sounds like "impression").

Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Frederic Bazille are the main representatives of impressionism.

Impressionism in painting is characterized by fast, spontaneous and free strokes. The guiding principle was a realistic depiction of the light-air environment.

The impressionists sought to capture fleeting moments on canvas. If at that very moment an object appears in an unnatural color, due to a certain angle of incidence of light or its reflection, then the artist depicts it that way: for example, if the sun paints the surface of a pond in pink color, then it will be written in pink.

Features of impressionism

Speaking about the main features of impressionism, it is necessary to name the following:

immediate and optically accurate image of a fleeting moment;
doing all the work outdoors - no more preparatory sketches and finishing work in the studio;

using pure color on the canvas, without pre-mixing on the palette;
the use of splashes of bright paint, strokes of varying sizes and degrees of sweep, which visually add up to one picture only when viewed from a distance.

Russian impressionism

The standard portrait in this style is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Russian painting - “Girl with Peaches” by Alexander Serov, for whom impressionism, however, became just a period of passion. Russian impressionism also includes works by Konstantin Korovin, Abram Arkhipov, Philip Malyavin, Igor Grabar and other artists written at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

This affiliation is rather conditional, since Russian and classical French impressionism have their own specifics. Russian impressionism was closer to the materiality, objectivity of works, and gravitated towards artistic sense, while French impressionism, as mentioned above, simply sought to depict moments of life, without unnecessary philosophy.

In fact, Russian impressionism adopted from the French only outside style, the techniques of his painting, but never mastered the very pictorial thinking invested in impressionism.

Modern impressionism continues the traditions of classical French impressionism. In modern painting of the 21st century, many artists work in this direction, for example, Laurent Parselier, Karen Tarleton, Diana Leonard and others.

Masterpieces in the style of impressionism

"Terrace at Sainte-Adresse" (1867), Claude Monet

This painting can be called Monet's first masterpiece. She is still the most popular painting early impressionism. The artist’s favorite theme—flowers and the sea—is also present here. The canvas depicts several people relaxing on the terrace on a sunny day. Relatives of Monet himself are depicted on chairs with their backs to the audience.

The whole picture is filled with bright sunlight. Clear boundaries between land, sky and sea are separated, organizing the composition vertically with the help of two flagpoles, but the composition does not have a clear center. The colors of the flags are combined with the surrounding nature, emphasizing the diversity and richness of colors.

"Bal at the Moulin de la Galette" (1876), Pierre Auguste Renoir

This painting depicts a typical Sunday afternoon in 19th-century Paris at the Moulin de la Galette, a café with an outdoor dance floor whose name corresponds to the name of the mill that is located nearby and is the symbol of Montmartre. Renoir's house was located next to this cafe; he often attended Sunday afternoon dances and enjoyed watching happy couples.

Renoir demonstrates real talent and combines the art of group portrait, still life and landscape painting in one picture. The use of light in this composition and the smoothness of the brush strokes the best way present style to a wide audience impressionism. This picture became one of the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction.

"Boulevard Montmartre at Night" (1897), Camille Pissarro

Although Pissarro is famous for his paintings depicting rural life, he also wrote a large number of beautiful urban scenes of the 19th century in Paris. He loved to paint the city because of the play of light during the day and evening, because of the roads illuminated by both sunlight and street lamps.

In 1897 he rented a room on the Boulevard Montmartre and painted him in different time days, and this work was the only work in the series captured after night had fallen. The canvas is filled with deep blue color and bright yellow spots of city lights. In all the paintings of the “boulevard” cycle, the main core of the composition is the road stretching into the distance.

The painting is now in National Gallery London, but during Pissarro’s lifetime it was never exhibited anywhere.

You can watch a video about the history and conditions of creativity of the main representatives of impressionism here:

European art of the late 19th century was enriched by the emergence of modernism. Its influence later spread to music and literature. It was called “impressionism” because it was based on the artist’s subtlest impressions, images and moods.

Origins and history

Several young artists formed a group in the second half of the 19th century. They had common goal and had the same interests. The main thing for this company was to work in nature, without workshop walls and various limiting factors. In their paintings they sought to convey all the sensuality, the impression of the play of light and shadow. Landscapes and portraits reflected the unity of the soul with the Universe, with the surrounding world. Their paintings are true poetry of colors.

In 1874, an exhibition of this group of artists was held. Landscape by Claude Monet “Impression. Sunrise” caught the eye of the critic, who in his review for the first time called these creators impressionists (from the French impression - “impression”).

The prerequisites for the birth of the style of impressionism, the paintings of whose representatives would soon become incredible success, steel works of the Renaissance. The work of the Spaniards Velazquez, El Greco, the English Turner, Constable unconditionally influenced the French, who were the founders of impressionism.

Prominent representatives of the style in France were Pissarro, Manet, Degas, Sisley, Cézanne, Monet, Renoir and others.

Philosophy of impressionism in painting

The artists who painted in this style did not set themselves the task of attracting public attention to troubles. In their works one cannot find subjects on the topic of the day; one cannot receive a moral lesson or notice human contradictions.

Paintings in the impressionist style are aimed at conveying a momentary mood, developing color schemes of a mysterious nature. There is only room for a positive beginning in the works; gloominess avoided the impressionists.

In fact, the impressionists did not bother themselves with thinking through the plot and details. The most important factor was not what to draw, but how to depict and convey your mood.

Painting technique

The difference between the academic style of drawing and the technique of the impressionists is colossal. They simply abandoned many methods, and changed some beyond recognition. Here are the innovations they introduced:

We abandoned the circuit. It was replaced with strokes - small and contrasting.
We stopped using palettes for colors that complement each other and do not require merging to achieve a certain effect. For example, yellow is purple.
Stopped painting in black.
They completely abandoned work in workshops. They painted exclusively on location, to make it easier to capture a moment, an image, a feeling.
Only paints with good covering power were used.
We didn’t wait for the new layer to dry. Fresh strokes were applied immediately.
They created cycles of works to follow changes in light and shadow. For example, “Haystacks” by Claude Monet.

Of course, not all artists followed the exact features of the Impressionist style. Paintings by Édouard Manet, for example, never participated in joint exhibitions, and he positioned himself as a separate standing artist. Edgar Degas worked only in workshops, but this did not harm the quality of his works.

Representatives of French Impressionism

The first exhibition of Impressionist works dates back to 1874. 12 years later, their last exhibition took place. The first work in this style can be called “Lunch on the Grass” by E. Manet. This painting was presented in the "Salon of the Rejected". It was met with hostility because it was very different from the academic canons. That is why Manet becomes a figure around whom a circle of followers of this stylistic movement gathers.

Unfortunately, contemporaries did not appreciate such a style as impressionism. Paintings and artists existed in disagreement with official art.

Gradually, Claude Monet came to the fore in the group of painters, who would later become their leader and the main ideologist of impressionism.

Claude Monet (1840—1926)

The work of this artist can be described as a hymn to impressionism. It was he who was the first to abandon the use of black in his paintings, citing the fact that even shadows and night have different tones.

The world in Monet’s paintings is unclear outlines, spacious strokes, looking at which you can feel the whole spectrum of the play of colors of day and night, seasons, and the harmony of the sublunary world. Just a moment that was snatched from the flow of life, in Monet’s understanding, is impressionism. His paintings seem to have no materiality; they are all saturated with rays of light and air currents.

were created by Claude Monet amazing work: “Gare Saint-Lazare”, “Rouen Cathedral”, the “Charing Cross Bridge” series and many others.

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Renoir's creations create the impression of extraordinary lightness, airiness, and ethereality. The plot was born as if by chance, but it is known that the artist carefully thought through all stages of his work and worked from morning to night.

A distinctive feature of O. Renoir's work is the use of glaze, which is only possible when painting. Impressionism in the artist's works is manifested in every stroke. He perceives a person as a particle of nature itself, which is why there are so many paintings with nudes.

Renoir's favorite pastime was depicting a woman in all her attractive and attractive beauty. Portraits occupy a special place in creative life artist. “Umbrellas”, “Girl with a Fan”, “Breakfast of the Rowers” are only a small part of the amazing collection of paintings by Auguste Renoir.

Georges Seurat (1859-1891)

Seurat associated the process of creating paintings with the scientific substantiation of color theory. The light-air environment was drawn based on the dependence of the main and additional tones.

Despite the fact that J. Seurat is a representative of the final stage of impressionism, and his technique is in many ways different from the founders, he, in the same way, creates with the help of strokes an illusory representation of an object form, which can be viewed and seen only from a distance.

The paintings “Sunday Afternoon”, “Cancan”, “Models” can be called masterpieces of creativity.

Representatives of Russian impressionism

Russian impressionism arose almost spontaneously, mixing many phenomena and methods. However, the basis, like the French, was a natural vision of the process.

In Russian impressionism, although the features of the French were preserved, the features national nature and states of mind made significant changes. For example, visions of snow or northern landscapes were expressed using unusual techniques.

In Russia, few artists worked in the impressionist style; their paintings still attract attention to this day.

The impressionistic period can be distinguished in the work of Valentin Serov. His "Girl with Peaches" - the clearest example and the standard of this style in Russia.

The paintings captivate with their freshness and harmony of pure colors. The main topic The work of this artist is the image of a person in nature. “Northern Idyll”, “In a Boat”, “Fedor Chaliapin” are bright milestones in K. Korovin’s work.

Impressionism in modern times

Currently, this direction in art has received new life. Several artists paint their paintings in this style. Modern impressionism exists in Russia (Andre Cohn), in France (Laurent Parselier), in America (Diana Leonard).

Andre Cohn is the most a prominent representative new impressionism. His oil paintings are striking in their simplicity. The artist sees beauty in everyday things. The creator interprets many objects through the prism of movement.

The whole world knows Laurent Parselier's watercolor works. His series of works Strange world"was released in the form of postcards. Magnificent, vibrant and sensual, they will take your breath away.

As in the 19th century, in currently artists remain plein air painting. Thanks to her, impressionism will live forever. artists continue to be inspired, impressed and encouraged.

Impressionism (impressionnisme) is a style of painting that appeared at the end of the 19th century in France and then spread throughout the world. The very idea of impressionism lies in its name: impression - impression. Artists who were tired of traditional academic painting techniques, which, in their opinion, did not convey all the beauty and liveliness of the world, began to use completely new techniques and methods of depiction, which were supposed to be the most accessible form to express not a “photographic” view, but precisely the impression of what he saw. In his painting, the impressionist artist, using the nature of his strokes and color palette, tries to convey the atmosphere, warmth or cold, strong wind or peaceful silence, a foggy rainy morning or a bright sunny afternoon, as well as his personal experiences from what he saw.

Impressionism is a world of feelings, emotions and fleeting impressions. What is valued here is not external realism or naturalness, but rather the realism of the expressed sensations, the internal state of the picture, its atmosphere, and depth. Initially, this style was subject to strong criticism. The first Impressionist paintings were exhibited at the Parisian “Salon of Les Misérables,” where works by artists rejected by the official Paris Salon of Arts were exhibited. The term “impressionism” was first used by critic Louis Leroy, who wrote a disparaging review in the magazine “Le Charivari” about an exhibition of artists. As the basis for the term, he took Claude Monet’s painting “Impression. Rising Sun". He called all the artists impressionists, which can be roughly translated as “impressionists.” At first, the paintings were indeed criticized, but soon more and more fans of the new art direction began to come to the salon, and the genre itself turned from a rejected one to a recognized one.

It is worth noting that the artists late XIX centuries in France they did not come up with a new style out of nowhere. They took as a basis the techniques of painters of the past, including artists of the Renaissance. Painters such as El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Rubens, Turner and others, long before the emergence of impressionism, tried to convey the mood of a picture, the liveliness of nature, the special expressiveness of the weather with the help of various intermediate tones, bright or, on the contrary, dull strokes that looked like abstract things. They used it quite sparingly in their paintings, so unusual technique did not catch the viewer's eye. The Impressionists decided to take these image methods as the basis for their works.

One more specific feature The works of the impressionists are a kind of superficial everydayness, which, however, contains incredible depth. They do not try to express any deep philosophical themes, mythological or religious problems, historical and important events. The paintings of artists of this movement are essentially simple and everyday - landscapes, still lifes, people walking down the street or doing their own thing. business as usual and so on. It is precisely such moments, where there is no excessive thematic content that distracts a person, that feelings and emotions from what they see come to the fore. Also, the impressionists, at least at the beginning of their existence, did not depict “heavy” themes - poverty, wars, tragedies, suffering, and so on. Impressionist paintings are most often the most positive and joyful works, where there is a lot of light, bright colors, smoothed chiaroscuro, smooth contrasts. Impressionism is a pleasant impression, joy from life, the beauty of every moment, pleasure, purity, sincerity.

The most famous impressionists became such great artists as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro and many others.

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Alfred Sisley - Lawns in Spring

Camille Pissarro - Boulevard Montmartre. Afternoon, sunny.

Impressionist exhibition

First of all, I visited the exhibition for the third time in the wonderful Kiev Art Mall. I have already written about the miraculous technologies for displaying exhibitions on this site. I won’t repeat myself, I’ll just say that this time everything was great, there was no disappointment :). This latest exhibition featured paintings by all the leading masters of this artistic direction. If anyone doesn’t know, just in case, I’ll give a list of these same Impressionist masters:

Edouard Manet. Although the artist himself constantly strived for official recognition, it was his scandalous famous picture“Breakfast on the Grass” has become a real symbol of the Salon of Rejects.
Berthe Morisot. One of the few (I'm afraid to say that the only) female impressionist. In 2013, the painting “After Dinner” was sold at Sotheby’s for $10.9 million. This event made Morisot the most expensive artist.
Camille Pissarro. I love his images of Parisian boulevards. The Montmartre Boulevard series is considered one of the generally accepted symbols of impressionism.
Claude Monet. Probably the most famous representative of the movement. In any case, it was his painting “Impression. Sunrise” at one time gave its name to the entire artistic movement.
Edgar Degas. Here I would like to voice a slightly funny and exaggerated saying of the modern bohemian party: if there are a lot of little people, this is Bosch, if fat ballerinas are Degas :)
Pierre Renoir. My favorite impressionist. And no more comments.
Toulouse de Lautrec. Singer of entertainment and everyday life of Parisian bohemia and the “bottom”. Cabaret, brothels- his topic.
Henri Cross. I was surprised to discover that I heard this name for the first time at the exhibition!
Paul Signac. His lovely landscapes of bright, pure colors gave birth to a new movement of neo-impressionism - pointillism.
Paul Cezanne. The main association I have with him is still lifes and a dislike for human models, and this is connected with my favorite funny situation.
Paul Gauguin. One of the titans of post-impressionism. Almost complete lack of recognition during life and records for the sale of paintings after death.
Vincent Van Gogh. Another star with an incredibly difficult creative and life destiny. And deafening glory after death...

These are all titans. You can look at their paintings (reproductions) for hours, which is what I did at the Kyiv exhibition. My photos don't represent anything artistic value, you will be able to find much better samples. But I’ll still post a couple of fragments from the exhibition:

Impressionist museums

As I already said, impressionism accompanies my entire adult life. Even on some resources, I impudently assign myself the nickname impressionism, thereby hinting not at my involvement, but at my special reverent attitude. That’s why I was wondering where you can see non-reproductions. and the originals? Mine personal experience quite small: while still a student I visited the glorious city of St. Petersburg and Hermitage. In the Hermitage I didn’t even try to grasp the immensity, but immediately found in which halls you can look at impressionist paintings. The meeting is quite big! I’ll just mention a few of my favorite paintings:

Camille Pissarro. “Boulevard Montmartre in Paris” 1897

Paul Signac “Harbor in Marseille”. 1906-1907

Painting by Claude Monet “Waterloo Bridge. (Fog effect)"

Paul Gauguin. “Woman holding a fruit.” 1893

Auguste Renoir. “Girl with a fan.” 1881

Auguste Renoir. “Portrait of the actress Jeanne Samary.” 1878

But in addition to my own information, I also have the impressions of my friends. They, infected with feelings for the Impressionists no less than I, visited Paris twice. And twice a mandatory part of their program was visits to museums that have collections of paintings from this direction. Key points of this Parisian cultural expedition are:

Orangerie Museum– the richest collection of impressionists and post-impressionists. The most famous painting is C. Monet’s “Water Lilies”. It was only from friends that I learned that this painting, it turns out, was painted by the artist right on the wall of the museum and completely occupies a separate room of the gallery.
Orsay Museum is not considered specialized only in the works of the Impressionists, presented here various directions European painting and sculptures. But almost all of the masters who were included in the list that I posted above are exhibited in Orsay. What is worth at least one famous “Olympia” by Edouard Manet!
Marmottan-Monet Museum has in its collection more than 300 impressionist paintings. Highlight: the iconic painting by Claude Monet “Impression. Sunrise". Yes, yes, exactly that one. Friends say that seeing her live is an enchanting feeling. I really envy them...

Claude Monet. Impression. Rising Sun