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Impressionism In Art Essay

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Impressionism: “a theory or practice in painting especially among French painters of about 1870 of depicting the natural appearances of objects by means of dabs or strokes of primary unmixed colors in order to simulate actual reflected light.” (“Impressionism.“) During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s a revolution in art began in France. Impressionism was a drastic change from the artwork from the Renaissance and the period of Romanticism in art. It was also the beginning of modern art. Famous Impressionistic artists include – a man dubbed the leader of Impressionism – Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Mary Cassatt, and Auguste Renoir. Impressionism can be characterized by short, quick brush strokes that when being viewed from a …show more content…

It is said that Monet often became frustrated with his work and destroyed many – up to as many as an estimated five hundred. His famed works include Camille (Woman in Green), Water Lilies Evening Effect, Water-Lily Pond, and Woman with a Parasol. After his first wife died Monet painted an austere assemblage of paintings we know as the Ice Drift series. Later he would re-marry to Alice Hoschede in 1892. Unfortunately, thirty-four years later – December 5, 1926 – Monet died due to lung cancer at the age of eighty-six. Edgar Degas was also a prominent Impressionist. Born in 1834, Degas was learned in the classics. During the era of Impressionism, he preferred to be denoted as a Realist or Independent, but despite his preference, he was a founding member of the bunch. In his early artwork, Degas began by copying famed Renaissance paintings at the Louvre, for he was taught the traditional Academic style – with it’s attention on line and assertion on the vital aspect of craftsmanship – by Louis Lamothe. After 1865 Degas did not paint Academic subjects again and instead focused on scenes of modern life such as urban leisure activities like horse races. He preferred painting subjects in dim, artificial light. Then, around 1870, he began painting and sculpting one of his most favored, and famous, subjects: ballerinas. At this time he also enjoyed sketching and painting laundresses, denizens, and Parisian

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