Impressionism

Impressionism began in France in the 1860s and 1870s.
The artists held their first group exhibition in Paris in 1874, because the official exhibition, the Salon, often rejected their work.
The name came from Claude Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise (1872). A critic, Louis Leroy, used the word 'Impressionists' to mock them, but the name stuck.

They capture the changing effects of light and weather at a particular moment.
They were often painted en plein air (French for 'in the open air'), outdoors.
They use visible, quick brushstrokes and dabs of bright, often unmixed colour.
Shadows are often coloured (blues and purples) rather than black.
Subjects are modern everyday life: cafés, railway stations, dancers, gardens, the seaside.
New metal paint tubes (invented in 1841) made painting outdoors much easier.

Claude Monet (French, 1840 to 1926) painted the same subjects, such as haystacks and water lilies, at different times of day to show changing light.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841 to 1919) painted people enjoying themselves in sunlight.
Edgar Degas (French, 1834 to 1917) is famous for paintings and pastels of ballet dancers.
Berthe Morisot (French, 1841 to 1895) showed work at the first exhibition in 1874.
Camille Pissarro (1830 to 1903), born on the Caribbean island of St Thomas, was the only artist to show at all eight Impressionist exhibitions.
Mary Cassatt (American, 1844 to 1926) worked in Paris and painted mothers and children.