Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: History and characteristics of these artistic movements

What is Impressionism?

This artistic movement emerged in France in the late 19th century. But what is Impressionism? Impressionist painters sought to capture the visual impressions of light on objects, rejecting academic subjects and classical drawing techniques. As a result, they prioritized light and color over realistic forms and details, breaking with traditional academicism. In their impressionist paintings, they painted everyday scenes and landscapes, en plein air, with loose and spontaneous brushstrokes creating splashes of color that took shape when observed from a distance.

Origin of Impressionism

In the second half of the 19th century, the official art scene in France followed strict academic rules. Impressionist painters, rejected by this institution, gained fame through the so-called “Salon des Refusés”. In 1874, they held the first exhibition of Impressionist paintings at the Nadar Gallery, where painters such as Monet, Degas, Renoir and Pissarro presented their works. This was hugely scandalous and initiated a movement that revolutionized painting.

Characteristics of Impressionism

Impressionism is distinguished by using pure unmixed colors, showing the brushstrokes and emphasizing light and color. Here are the main characteristics of Impressionism:

• Direct application of pure colors in small brushstrokes.
• Avoiding chiaroscuro, instead suggesting shapes and distances with changes of color and tone.
• Painting outdoors, in contact with nature and natural light.
• Capturing visual impressions of the moment.

Historical and Social Context of Impressionism

Impressionism emerged as a progression of Realism and the French landscape school of the late 19th century, reflecting social and philosophical changes like the rise of the bourgeoisie and positivism. This new artistic style portrayed both the country leisure pursuits of the bourgeoisie and urban life. Impressionist artists abandoned the grandiose subjects of the past, influenced by the scientific objectivity of positivism.

The historical and social context of Impressionism was influenced by conflicts such as the Franco-Prussian War and World War I, as well as independence movements in the French colonies.

The appearance of photography also influenced impressionist art, developing the idea that what determines vision is color rather than the drawing. In addition, the use of oil paints in tubes, which became widespread in the mid-19th century, meant that Impressionist painters did not have to work with pigments in the studio and they were able to go out and paint en plein air. This brought these artists face to face with a new reality full of light, which they were able to capture in their impressionist works.

Impressionist Artists: Main figures

The main impressionist painters are presented below:

Claude Monet

Claude Monet (1840-1926), impressionist painter par excellence, created more than 2,500 works. Particularly interested in the landscape and the incidence of light at different times, he studied the effects of changing light on the same object, experiments essential to our understanding of the genesis of modern art. His painting Impression, Sunrise sparked the use of the name “Impressionists” for the whole group of artists who decided to break with academia.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Renoir (1841-1919) offers us a more sensual interpretation of Impressionism, more inclined to beauty. In his prolific work he depicts the joy of life with characters having fun in pleasant surroundings. In the second part of his career, after a trip to Italy, he became obsessed with drawing, partially abandoning Impressionism.

Édouard Manet

Although he was linked to the movement, Manet (1832-1883) was not simply an impressionist painter, although without him there would be no impressionist art. More than an impressionist, he was a precursor, a symbol of anti-academicism. His fame was due more to the subjects of his paintings, considered scandalous, than to the novelty of his style.

Edgar Degas

Degas (1834 – 1917) was an artist with a unique style, a specialist in capturing the body’s movement, almost to the point of obsession. More than half of his works involve ballet.

Paul Cézanne

The French painter Cézanne (1839-1906) is considered one of the fathers of Impressionist art, although his approach and his painting soon took a different course. His works, appreciated posthumously, present forms and colors unthinkable for his time. Cézanne’s paintings are considered the pioneers of pictorial modernism.

Berthe Morisot

Art by women was also significant in the Impressionist movement. Among all the French Impressionist painters, Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) stands out. She specialized in producing small-scale works on unprimed canvases, giving her pieces an unfinished appearance.

Famous Impressionist Paintings

Many paintings by Impressionist painters have achieved global fame. Some of the most famous are:

Luncheon on the Grass by Édouard Manet. Painted in 1863, this work is considered a precursor of impressionist art. Both the appearance of the female nude between gentlemen and the modernity of the style generated a scandal when the painting was first shown at the Salon des Refusés in 1863, after being rejected by the Salón Oficial.

The work Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet, painted in 1872, is considered the cornerstone of the Impressionist movement and, in fact, gave the movement its name. In this piece Monet painted the sunrise over Le Havre harbor using loose brushstrokes to represent the reflections of the sun on the water.

In Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1876, the Impressionist painter depicts a lesiurely afternoon scene at the Moulin de la Galette, a picnic area in Montmartre, Paris. Many of the people who appear in the painting were known to the painter. The crowd, portrayed with loose and luminous brushstrokes, moves in a play of light that reflects all the excitement and joy of the scene.  

Garden at Sainte-Adresse, painted in 1867, is one of Claude Monet’s most important works. Pertaining to the artist’s early period, the work already reflects the artist’s interest in light and landscape.

The Dance Class, painted by Degás in 1874, is one of the artist’s most elaborate paintings. It is an imaginary scene, in the rehearsal room of the Paris opera. It shows ballet students accompanied by their mothers on exam day.

The Cradle, a work created by Berthe Morisot in 1872, was exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and depicts the theme of motherhood from an everyday perspective. 

Other notable works of Impressionism

 The list of famous impressionist paintings is very long. Many of the works of Impressionist painters have become part of art history. These include Édouard Manet’s The Fifer, the work Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon.  Effect of Rain that Camille Pissarro painted from the window of his room in Paris, and Gustave Caillebotte’s Paris Street; Rainy Day. And we must not forget to mention the French-British painter Alfred Sisley. His work Flood at Port-Marly, painted in 1876, is a clear example of why this artist is considered, along with Monet, one of the purest impressionists.

If you would like to discover the most emblematic paintings of Impressionism, we invite you to take a complete tour through the pages of our catalog on Impressionism .

History of Impressionism in Spain

Although French Impressionism had a significant influence on Spanish artists, in Spain this movement acquired its own characteristics that adapted it to the local reality and artistic sensibility.

Beginning in the 1880s, many Spanish artists began to adopt Impressionist techniques and explore the movement’s themes. However, Impressionism in Spain was not as homogeneous as in France, with various approaches and styles developing within the movement.

Development of Impressionism in Spain

Impressionism reached Spain somewhat later. Connections with foreign culture were scarce and limited to the elite. France was the great reference in painting and Carlos de Haes was a decisive influence. Haes was a Belgian painter based in Spain, who taught landscape painting at the San Fernando School, promoting the faithful reproduction of nature in the tradition of the French Barbizon school, whose landscape painters were the first to paint en plein air, in other words, in the open air.

During the second half of the 19th century, his students, including Beruete and Regoyos, adopted the Impressionist technique.

In addition, many of the Spanish painters, such as Adolfo Guiard, Darío de Regoyos, Ramón Casas and Santiago Rusiñol, went to study in Paris and/or Brussels, where they came into direct contact with plein air painting.

Spanish Impressionist Artists

Darío de Regoyos (1857-1913) was a Spanish impressionist painter who, unlike his contemporaries, traveled around Europe and interacted with other impressionist artists such as Camille Pissarro, adopting a more European style. His work, characterized by small brushstrokes, was influenced by Monet and Sisley. He painted landscapes of his native Asturias with a distinctive approach to color.

Aureliano de Beruete (1845-1912), born in Madrid, was a painter, intellectual and politician. He received a doctorate in law and studied at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he was influenced by Carlos de Haes. A friend of Regoyos, Casas and Sorolla, Beruete’s work evolved from Realism to Impressionism and then to Modernism, with a focus on light and loose brushstrokes. He stands out as the only pure Spanish Impressionist.

Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) is one of the most prominent Spanish artists associated with Impressionism, although for many his work is Post-Impressionist rather than Impressionist per se. The Valencian painter was noted for his plein air paintings, which captured light and color with rapid, loose brushstrokes.

Post-Impressionism: characteristics and artists

Post-Impressionism is an artistic movement that emerged in France between 1880 and 1905 as a reaction to Impressionism. Although Post-Impressionist artists shared a relationship with Impressionism, they sought to overcome its limitations. While Impressionism focused on capturing natural light and the dissolution of forms, Post-Impressionism recovered the importance of drawing and expressiveness.

This movement, by innovating in painting, laid the foundation for future artistic movements of the 20th century, such as Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism.

The birth of modern art was hugely influenced by Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists.

Characteristics of Post-Impressionism

• Focus on form and expressiveness: emphasis on drawing and the emotive representation of objects and figures.
• Balance between volume and aesthetics: volumetric effect integrated with aesthetic appreciation.
• Use of geometric forms: painting composed using geometric bodies.
• Contrasting colors: applied to define and distend planes and forms.
• Pictorial exploration: a quest for structure, space and color.
• Emotional expression: brushstrokes that seek to convey anguish and grief.
• Interest in the exotic and the margins of society:  inspired by exotic and peripheral themes.
• Simplified compositions: creation of harmonious and static forms with defined profiles.

Principal Post-Impressionist artists

Impressionist painters, but incorporated techniques and characteristics of other styles, redefining and developing patterns that varied from those of the original Impressionism esthetic.

Vincent Van Gogh

The Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) is the archetype of the tortured, misunderstood artist. During his lifetime he sold only one of his hundreds of paintings, which today fetch astronomical prices at auction. Although his work was influenced by the vibrant color of the Impressionists, it is distinguished by the expression of his tormented character, affected by a serious mental illness.

Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), initially trained as an Impressionist, he moved to Brittany and then to Tahiti. His art, characterized by simple and balanced compositions, captured mainly Breton and Tahitian characters, reflecting an ordered and reflective style.

Auguste Rodin

Post-Impressionist sculpture was largely influenced by Auguste Rodin, France’s most famous sculptor and a contemporary of Impressionism, considered “the father of modern sculpture”. In the field of sculpture it is only fair to also mention Camille Claudel, a leading artist of the period whose work, at the time, was eclipsed by the genius of her partner, Rodin.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was a painter, draughtsman and poster artist, and one of the most original figures of 19th century art. The Impressionist influence in his work is manifested in the use of bright colors, themes and compositions. His status as a bohemian aristocrat allowed him to masterfully capture the venues for nocturnal entertainment.

Differences between Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

Between 1870 and 1880 Impressionism was predominant in France, but some artists were dissatisfied with its focus on light rather than subject matter. To revolutionize contemporary art, artists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Henri Rousseau formed Post-Impressionists. These artists, departing from Impressionism, sought to restore the importance of drawing and explore expressiveness.

Evolution from Impressionism to Post-Impressionism

Impressionism, by focusing on capturing natural light, reduced the clarity of form and the sense of space in its works. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Post-Impressionist painters emerged who, building on Impressionism, developed a personal style that heralded important artistic movements of the 20th century. Post-Impressionism recovered the importance of drawing and sought not only to capture light, but also to express the emotionality of the subjects.

Comparison of styles and techniques

Although they start from common ground, there are differences between Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. The most important are detailed below:

• Light. Impressionism focuses on the use of light, while Post-Impressionism not only employs light, but also incorporates emotion.
• Vision. In Impressionism, the work has an objective character; in Post-Impressionism, a subjective representation of reality emerges.
• Subjects. While Impressionism focuses on natural subjects, Post-Impressionism deals with everyday life.
• Meaning. Impressionism pursues direct, spontaneous painting while Post-Impressionism transforms feelings into symbols through form and color.
• Color. In Impressionism, the mixing of colors occurs in the eye of the viewer. Post-Impressionism uses mixed techniques such as pointillism, where color symbolizes ideas.

Patronage in Impressionism

At the end of the 19th century, patronage evolved from a relationship of domination to a closer involvement in the lives of artists: patrons began to become more personally involved in art. They knew the artists’ works, visited their studios and helped them in their businesses. A good example is the relationship between Paul Durand-Ruel and the Impressionist painters. The support of this patron and art dealer was key in Impressionism developing and gaining recognition. In the absence of support from the bourgeois public, the movement found significant backing in private collections and the patronage of important businessmen with social and economic standing.