Salon & Salon des refusés (R).

Paris - chaotic, overcrowded, crime, disease rife (early 19th century).

City modernized (quays, bridges, streets widened, trees planted, sewer network).

Booming economy - leisurely lifestyle.

Open spaces - middle class wealth, concerts.

New middle class art collectors.

Experts at Academy (classical, not radical)

Sharp contrasts of light and shade over academic perspective and shading.

Figures tended to flatten.

Photography (lighting bleached out flesh tones reduced grades of tone)

Manet paved the way for Impressionism - loose, flat style of painting, modern themes

Wanted to modernize great traditions to create modern art for modern Paris.

17th century Dutch and Spanish painting inspired Manet.

Admired Venetian art.

Struggle against academic system - rejection and ridicule.

Not understood at the time (meaning, message)

Unique style and development in painting bridged the gap between realism and impressionism

Classical themes were popular Academic subjects and often depicted nude female figures (nymphs or goddesses rather than real characters)

Academic artists - layers of paint. Often layers were added without model present

Manet preferred to paint with model in front of him, completing paintings quickly with loose brushstrokes and parts of canvas sparsely covered. Used natural light and did not glaze or layer at the end.

Paris - leading centre for finance, fashion, commerce, arts (1860s)

Redevelopment continued under Haussman (Civic planner)

Railways and Travel - Train stations, hotels, exhibition halls, department stores.

1875 - parks, gardens squares

Art - Academie des Beaux Arts dominated content and style. Blended, muted colours.

New racecourse (Longchamp) 1857 first race

Artists depicted horse racing scenes (Manet. Degas)

Franco-Prussian War (1870/71)

Napoleon III disastrous war - empire ended abruptly

Left wing communist revolution

1000s excuted under 3rd republic - rebuild

Industrial revolution - technological advancements during 1860s affected artists lives and methods

Railway - Parisians could travel to the countryside, leisure areas to paint

Colour Theory - Early 19th C scientist developed the colour wheel. Impacted their use of contrast and harmony in colours. Plein Air - Observe colour.

Photography - fashionalble art form, inspired artists to persue other means of creative expression

Japonism - Japanise wood block prints. Simple everyday subjects, decorative manner

New materials - French easel (light, compact). Metal clamp on brushes, paint tubes, new pigments. Neo-Impressionism - light, colour. Sculpture - Rodin, capturing moment.

While earlier movements, like Neoclassicism and Romanticism, often focused on historical, mythological, or elite subjects, Impressionists embraced modern life. They frequently painted scenes of urban leisure, outdoor gatherings, and bourgeois activities. These everyday moments became the subjects of fine art, such as people at cafés, parks, or along the streets.

Unlike their Realist predecessors who focused on gritty social commentary and realism, Impressionists emphasized light, color, and the transient nature of everyday life

Unlike academic painting, which often favored static poses, Impressionists were interested in the movement of people and objects in daily life. They captured fleeting moments of activity, whether it was the motion of a dancer, a person walking, or the wind moving through trees.

Impressionists wanted to capture a fleeting moment in time.

They painted light and movement. Reflections on water, dappled sunlight filtering though trees

The Tache (french for blot of stain) - thickly applied , bold, even stroke of 1 colour

Wet on Wet - used pure unmixed colour, added new layers before previous layer was dry (blurred effect)

Unvarnished surface to keep colours bright. Degas diluted paint with turpentine to eliminate shine.

Pastels - Degas

Clay or plaster casts sculpture - Rodin

France became a republic after the Franco Prussian War ended in 1871.

The 3rd Republic was politically unstable because of rivalary between Monarchists and Republicans

Period of imperial expansion, considerable scientific/artistic achievement.

French Colonial Empire developed. Colonies in North Africa, Indochina and many islands such as Tahiti

Art - 1870s/80s - Impressionism dominated Avant Garde Art in the France. Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin did not like focus on style over subject matter and went their own route with Post-Impressionism (Stylistically different from Impressionists but also shared their work in independent exhibitions.

Primitivism - Primitive art changed the direction of European painting at the turn of 20th Century. Facisination with less industrially developed cultures and a romantic notion that non Western people were more linked to nature, spirituality.

Photography and Japanese influence - Flat planes, bright colours, irregular shapes

Colour and light - used mid range tones that were reflective of light. Avoided black and grey and mixed complementary colours for shadows

Light on water - slabs of colour with small strokes

Optical mixing - placing vivid colours together to mix in the eye of the viewer

Loose brushstrokes - short, thick strokes and broken colour techniques like Tache captured movement, quivering light and essence of subject.

Bright, vibrant colors to depict natural scenes and daily life, abandoning the muted tones of academic painting. They mixed colors on the canvas rather than relying on traditional methods of blending, which allowed them to create more vibrant and spontaneous representations of everyday moments.

En Plein Air

Greater awareness of effects of light on colour

Colour Theory and new equipment influenced them

Impressionism was ridiculed but was the 1st distinctly modern movement

Frustrated by Academy rejection - an anonymous society of painters, sculptors and engravers held an independent exhibition (1874)

Critics said - they 'couldn't draw', used 'strange compositions' and 'vulgar colours'

Claude Monet

Berthe Morisot

Auguste Renoir

Edgar Degas

Auguste Rodin

Camille Pissarro

Mary Cassatt

Camille Claudel

Art reacted to politics

Restrained, disciplined, strict style - reflected the mood of the revolution

Jacques Louis David - official artist for Government

Emphasised emotions and imagination

Themes of artwork - Struggle and Justice

Allegorical (interpreted) fantastical scenes rather than represented a real event

Composition - strayed from Academy standard at the time (Courbet)

Surface texture - thick flecks and slabs of paint rather than carefully modelled and finished appearance (Courbet)

Loose gestural brushstrokes (Millet)

New railway system - easier to travel to countryside or coast for inspiration / create artwork outside

Painting outside was more common due to inventions - Collapsible tin painting tube and small, folding easel

Rejection of the idealized, romanticized subjects that were common in previous art movements like Romanticism or Neoclassicism.

Realist artists focused on depicting the everyday lives of ordinary people, particularly from the working class, peasants, and laborers. This was a dramatic shift, as the elite and aristocratic classes had historically been the primary subjects in art.

Realist artists embraced modern techniques that allowed them to capture the true texture, color, and light of their subjects. They experimented with looser, less formal brushstrokes, often leaving some elements slightly unfinished to create a sense of immediacy.

The Academy set the standard for art (structured in technical manner, Composition, perspective and proportion were strict)

Level 1: History painting, Level 2: Literature & Portraiture, Level 3: Landscapes/outdoor settings (& genre scenes)

Highly finished surface (Polished enamel)

The Salon - exhibited selected artwork that met their strict criteria

Barbizon School of plein air painters were inspired by peasants, houses, forests

Large scale paintings were traditionally reserved for grand/noble subjects but Courbet presented ordinary subjects and everyday people on these large canvases, which was seen as shocking at the time

Courbet - leading Realist artist in France

The Academic system remained the only way an artist could achieve recognition at the time

Modern movements were influenced by idea of challenging the Academy

Post - Impressionist artists, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin inspired the modern art movements of the 20th century

Gauguin inspired Fauvism

Cézanne inspired Cubism

Van Gogh inspired Expressionism

Did not like to be called Impressionist or painting outside

Academic training, valued quality drawing and line over colour - accepted in Salon but was not happy with the display/hanging of his paintings in the exhibitions.

Considered an Impressionist because he was closely associated with the group and exhibited with them, despite preferring to call himself a "Realist" or "Independent". He shared their interest in capturing fleeting moments of modern life.

Focused on figures and working class women, dancers became his favourite theme.

'Why shouldn't Art be pretty, there are enough unpleasant things in the world' - Renoir

Monet encouraged him to paint outdoors, they were very close friends and painted at the River Seine.

Painted people in Cafés, dancehalls, boats or riverside scenes, portraits or women and children.

Modern life, working class enjoying social activities

Appealing happy scenes = Achieved artistic success quickly

First time such a large painting with so many figures was painted outdoors.

Defied societal expectations for women of her time by remaining an artist and using her personal experiences as subject matter, offering a female perspective rarely seen in art at the time.

Only woman to participate in the first 3 impressionist exhibitions and was a founding members of the movement.

Married to Manets brother

Sculptures broke barriers - strongly realistic figures, emotion, sexuality

No rigid academic training

Rough and unfinished surfaces instead of traditional polished finish.

Fingertip markings often visible on finished pieces

Only Artists to exhibit in all 8 of the Impressionist group exhibitions

Admired Realist Corot and early work was accepted in the Salon.

Fascinated by natural light and painting outside

Exploring the same subject matter under different conditions and lighting

Experimenting with colour theory

Not interested in painting quickly and fleeting moments

Interested in clarity, solidity and timeless grandeur

Divisionism - Separation of colours

Pointillism - Dots

Optical mixing - From a distance, colours blend together in the viewers eye (e.g. red and blue dots = purple to viewer)

Busy street scene painted in 2 stages with years in between.

The years between 2 stages of painting resulted in differences between right and left sides of painting

Right - 1880 outdated fashion and hats, bright colours and light feathery brushstrokes

Left - Simpler fashion of 1885, no hat, subdued colours and more polished painting finish