Monet is considered the leader of the Impressionist movement.
Claude Monet (1840-1926) was the French artist who fathered the Impressionist movement in art. Monet was the rebellious son of a marine supply store owner who often found himself in trouble for painting the locals without their permission. Monet's rebelliousness, however, would eventually bloom into the Impressionist movement that lasted from the end of the 19th century until the early 20th century.
History of Impressionism
Monet's most famous painting: "Impression: Soleil Levant"
There is no doubt that Monet is at the center of Impressionism. The term "Impressionism" comes from the name of perhaps Monet's most famous painting, "Impression: Soleil Levant" (Impression: Sunrise). The term was coined by the art critic Louis Leroy, who noticed a trend developing after seeing Monet's groundbreaking work. Monet and the other Impressionist painters were not very warmly received at first because their styles defied painting conventions of the time. Over time, however, the public grew to like the Impressionist style, and even art critics conceded to its virtue.
Impressionist Technique
The most visible feature of Monet's paintings that distinguish him from his predecessors is his style of painting. The Impressionists used pure, bold colors and avoided mixing colours. The Impressionists avoided black paint and concentrated on bold, bright colorful scenes. Moreover, the Impressionists did not layer their paints; the border between paints would always be wet, leading to a softer edge between them like a soft lens on a camera.
Impressionist Philosophy
As photography became more sophisticated, photographs rather than paintings were seen as the new medium for capturing a moment of time. The Impressionists reacted against this by trying not to paint a replica of an image, but a bold, colorful impression of it. Impressionist paintings aimed to capture the soft essence of a subject and not its details. Also, painters during and before Monet's life painted indoors, but Monet and the Impressionists preferred to paint outdoors, viewing their subject as they painted them. The Impressionists were lovers of nature, and they tried to move their art out of the studio and into the world.
Legacy of Impressionism
Impressionism was largely a French art movement, but the style did branch out into other media. Filmmakers and photographers mirrored the paintings of Monet, softening their lenses and brightening the surrounding colors. Furthermore, English modernist writers such as Virginia Woolf and James Joyce adopted an Impressionist writing style, using only a few words to convey the essence of an emotion or setting rather than a detailed description -- just as Monet would capture the bold whole instead of being captured by the details of it.
