France Of The Xix Century Is The Cradle Of Impressionism.

France of the XIX century is the cradle of Impressionism.

Beautiful style, beautiful line, beautiful color don't exist in reality;

The only beauty is the truth, which becomes visible.

O.Roden

Trying to find something interesting for my essay devoted to the Impressionism, I was slightly disappointed: Impressionism was defined with trite expressions, repeated over and over again, resembling titles, primitive phrases and with nothing extraordinary. I was looking for something special, for some words which would allow expressing the whole fascination of such phenomenon in art as Impressionism. I found it. Some unknown philosopher of the XX century talking about impressionists, noticed that no one was able to imagine the reality with such a force and warmth as impressionists. To my mind, this expression reflects the most important features of this style of art.

The name Impressionism speaks for itself: the main aspiration of painters was to create canvases that from the first sight make a deep impression, to paint the real picture of surroundings; to depict not imagined and not idealized world. The most significant purpose was to create the atmosphere of the trembling air where people and objects were submerged. Their paintings were full of wind, the warm earth exhaled the odour of rain and petals of flowers were velvet to the touch. Masters of that style depicted marvelous gorgeousness of original color in the nature, ignoring the tendencies dictated by classicism and academism.

Distinctive energetic strokes, original colors, iridescent lights, the bright and vivid impression that the painting makes Ð'- these are several features characterized Impressionism, that are very easy to recognize.

Impressionism was a fresh stream in the art of the XIX century in France and the last fundamental movement for that time. (http://www.arthistory.ru/impressionism.htm) It's clear that it didn't appear in the empty space: there were reasons for it to start developing. The appearance of the Impressionism in the second half of the XIX century was conditioned by the consequence that painters developed the system of "plein air". The French expression "en plein air" means "in the open air" in interpretation, actually it was an excellent way for painters to capture how the simplest moment of everyday life transforms in the rays of shining sun and how three-dimensional forms dissolves in the vibration of light and air. They were able to quit their studios because of paint in tubes invention in the 1870. Previously, each painter had to make their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil, that is why it was difficult for them to go out with all the equipment necessary for the process of painting. Since that time it became very important for painters to have natural light when they were painting, and popularity of painting en plein air increased, making a significant contribution in the development of Impressionistic school.

In fact, impressionism existed, developed and flourished during the period between 1867 and 1886, and in that period several prominent representatives of that style appeared. My essay will cover the most famous and principal masters-impressionists: Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet.

Everything began with "Impression, Sunrise" (Impression, soleil levant) by Edouard Monet, which was exhibited in the first impressionist exhibition in 1974. At the painting Le Havre landscape was depicted. After its appearance art crictic Louis Leroy coining the term Imressionism, determined one of the most famous art directions of the XIX century and in the whole Art.

Claude Monet is a giant of impressionism, a person who actually found it. An enormous number of paintings depicting bridges and lilies, landscapes and women were created by him Ð'- each masterpiece has absolutely impressionistic features. Bright paint-brush strokes, vague forms, hazy images and insuperable force of attraction that is emanated from his masterpieces.

Monet works are the essence of the impressionism. Among other masters who were working

La Promenade along with him, Monet was the most convinced person.

His attitude towards the impressionism and comprehension of this style of art was consistent and stable. Since he began working, he trusted his perception and even during very difficult turns of his destiny, he never lost the belief in his force and never refused his aspirations. The creative work of this astonishing master can be called in some sense The Impressionism, in its consistent development, perfection and transforming.

Pierre-Auguste Renoire is another great name in the history of Impressionism development.

Renoir's paintings which absolutelly fairly are considered as impressionistic ones have one

distinctive feature: Renoire, unlike the majority of impessionists The Parisian (La Parisienne)

working at that time, ignored landscape genre. Beautiful women, touching children, flowers - these are the subjects Renoir's attention is payed to. Despite the fact that he did not paint nature, his picures depicting live people have one impressionistic feature: there are no details, he did not go into details of the scenes he painted, but the effect of true life was achieved by soft merging of figures with the background, sometimes, Renoir used the trick of applying the paint with a palette knife instead of brush.

Renoir's Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette), created in 1876 where crowded scene with dancing pairs and talking people is pictured. This is a moment of an active life captured with the calm warmth. Maybe exactly this warmth made Renoire a prolific painter whose works are famous and recognizible all over the world.

Among the impressionist there are many prominent masters who is worth talking about, therefore, it was difficult to decide who will be presented in my essay. Considering different works of impressionists,

L'etoile [La danseuse sur la scene] I was absolutely amazed and fascinated by marvelous images of miniature ballet dancers that created inimitable style of Degas' working. This admiration made me think about Degas and include him in