08 / 10 · 1860–1890
Out of the studio to catch the flicker of light at a single moment.
Impression, Sunrise · Read more →In 1874 a group of young painters repeatedly rejected by the official organised their own exhibition. A critic mocked them as “Impressionists” after Monet's Impression, Sunrise, and the name stuck.
Paint in tin tubes and the spread of the railways let artists carry their equipment outdoors to paint . They laid pure colours side by side in short, broken strokes, letting the viewer's eye do the mixing, to capture fleeting impressions of sunlight, water and city life.
