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The Impressionist Saga
Famous and Admired: Deconstructing a Myth
The official discourse on the Impressionists perpetuates a marketable label and oversimplifies the group.
Chapter 1 - Four Precursors: Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, Eugène Boudin, Barthold Jongkind
Among the precursors, Eugène Delacroix and Gustave Courbet challenged the conventions of academic finish and asserted the primacy of colour over drawing, while Eugène Boudin and Barthold Jongkind explored atmospheric realism and seascapes.
The young friends Monet, Renoir and Bazille practised painting outdoors. Bazille's studio is undoubtedly the painting that best captures the friendship between these young artists, who trained either at the Père Suisse’s studio or at Gleyre's. Following Bazille's death in the Franco-Prussian War, the Impressionists lost their leader. However, those who went into exile in London met the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel.
Chapter 2 - Shared Friendships and Singularities
Chapter 3 - The Impressionist Exhibitions
As the Salon jury regularly rejected young painters, they broke free by organising eight independent exhibitions, known as the 'Impressionist' exhibitions. The term 'Impressionist' originated from a satirical article by Louis Leroy in the magazine Charivari, after a painting by Monet named Impression, Sunrise. However, these joint exhibitions masked profound differences, leading to quarrels between Pissarro, Renoir, Caillebotte, Monet, Gauguin, and the uncompromising Degas. Notably, three female artists were also among these adventurers: Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot and Marie Bracquemond.
Chapter 4 - In Search of Impressions, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas
Can we attempt to define Impressionism? If it is a painting technique involving rapid brushstrokes, possibly executed en plein air, which works by Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir or Edgar Degas fit this definition? We will begin with a comparative study of Renoir's and Monet's series of paintings of the Grenouillère.
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