9781422285398

RENOIR

7

(Mary Evans Picture Library)

 ABOVE:  Édouard Manet (1832-1883), a great French impressionist painter, c. 1875.

used unmixed to provide an intense richness never seen before. New techniques were developed that became synonymous with Impressionism. Movement became a particularly “real” element in the style. Ripples of water, flowing rivers, and choppy seas were all brought to life through the use of fragmented brushstrokes, while the sunlight highlighted and illuminated the effect. It was a breathtaking and daring move. Radical and revolutionary. The poses and compositions were candid, were unafraid of immediacy, and created movement. To begin with, critics, and the public alike, were shocked by the works of the Impressionists. Their paintings – which provided

highly radical movement who “broke the rules” of academic painting. Colors began to take prominence and brushstrokes became fragmented – broken – and working in the studio became a thing of the past. Outside – en plein air – was considered the most favored way to paint. Up to this point, even landscapes had been painted in the studio, but the Impressionists found that by working outdoors they could capture the realistic scenes of modern-day life while emphasizing the vivid effects of light on the subject. Details were overlooked, as was the previous blending of colors that had been so carefully mixed by generations of artists before. Now, colors were