What Was The Impressionist Period Remembered For?

Impressionism was a loose 19th Century painting movement who rejected the rules of the conventional art of their time. Breaking away from the emphasis placed on accuracy and realism by their contemporaries, the Impressionists began a tradition of abstraction which gave most importance to colour, and the interaction between the artist and their subject. Rather than the painstakingly-mixed colours of their peers, these radical artists instead chose to make their brush strokes visible, not mixing their colours but applying many different shades. Thus, rather than painting blue, they painted an impression of blue.

Furthermore the Impressionist artists were revolutionary in their choice of locations. Previously all painting had taken place in studios ~ even landscapes, which were painted either from sketches or from memory. The Impressionists preferred to immerse themselves in their subject, physically taking their equipment into the fields and by the rivers, and recording what they saw immediately and first-hand. This is a tradition which has survived the movement, and can be seen in a great number of modern-day artists.