7 Famous Impressionist Artists Who Achieved Greatness

Impressionism was born in France in the 19th century. This movement revolutionized the art world. Numerous artists created Impressionist works, including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Mary Cassatt. Impressionist artists captured fleeting moments, vivid lights, and scenes of everyday life. The influence of Impressionism continues today. This is evidenced by the continued artistic importance of color, light, and themes arising from everyday life.

1. Most Famous Impressionist Artist: Claude Monet

Claude Monet was a supporter of the Impressionist movement throughout his life. This movement was named after him one of his works. Impression, sunrise. Monet preferred painting outdoors to capture changes in light. This was taught to him by his teacher Eugène Boudin. Artist Gustave Courbet once visited Claude Monet while he was working on a large painting. women in the garden And Monet said that even when painting leaves, the light conditions needed to be perfect. From his 1890s onwards, he focused on painting the same scene at different times of day and in different weather conditions.

This resulted in series such as: haystack. Although his early career was shaped by poverty, he began to earn more money in the 1880s. In 1890 he was able to purchase a house in Giverny, France. He created a water garden there full of water lilies. It inspired Monet’s famous works. water lily A series consisting of approximately 300 paintings. In 1908 his eyesight deteriorated and in 1923 he underwent cataract surgery. Nevertheless, he worked on the series. He donated many of these works to the French government in 1926, the same year he died.

2. Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas is famous for his depictions of Parisian society and his depiction of female subjects, especially ballet dancers. While Impressionists like Claude Monet painted outdoors, Edgar Degas preferred to work indoors. He was born in Paris in 1834, the son of a banker and art lover. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and learned from the works of the great masters whose works he saw at the Louvre and in Italy.

Degas met Edouard Manet while copying a work by Diego Velazquez at the Louvre. Degas was introduced to the Impressionist group through Manet. Instead of Degas painting her history paintings, she began painting scenes of modern daily life. His paintings featured ballerinas, women working in laundry shops, and women in the bathroom.

Influenced by the Impressionist movement and photography, Degas wanted the scenes in his works to appear spontaneous and fleeting. He often cut out people and objects from his paintings, enhancing their snapshot-like quality. However, he acknowledged that achieving this effect was carefully planned. The unusual perspective of his paintings is also influenced by Japanese color prints.

3. Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in 1841 and began painting at the age of 13 in a porcelain factory. He attended evening courses at the École des Beaux-Arts in his 1862 and took lessons in Charles Gleyre’s studio. There he met Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille. At that time, painters created their works in their studios. However, Renoir, Monet, Sisley, and Bazille broke with that tradition and went to the Forest of Fontainebleau to paint in 1864.

He is known for his snapshot-like depictions of gatherings in works such as: Dancing at Le Moulin de la Galette or boat party luncheon. He is also famous for his depictions of women and nudity.with his work Dancing at Le Moulin de la Galette Renoir vividly depicts Impressionist themes such as modern daily life and ever-changing lighting conditions, seen here through fleeting light spots. His paintings depict subjects that are generally considered joyful, such as flowers, beautiful women, people having fun, and children with kind faces.

4. Camille Pissarro

Camille Pissarro was born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, where her parents owned a general store. When he was 12 years old, he sent him to school in Passy. When he returned to St. Thomas, his father wanted Pissarro to work in the family business, but Pissarro wanted to make art instead. In 1852, to escape what he called the shackles of bourgeois life, he sailed to Venezuela with the painter Fritz Melby. A few years later, Pissarro went to Paris and attended private lessons at the École des Beaux-Arts. He met Claude Monet at the Académie Suisse, who introduced him to Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. At Café Gerbois he frequently discussed art with Renoir and Monet.

He was interested in the effects of weather and light.Pissarro is widely known for his landscape paintings depicting rural life, and his works Cowherd of Valhermeil, Auvers-sur-Oise is an example. The artist was dissatisfied with the jury at the Paris Salon and looked for an exhibition outside of the Salon. In 1874, the first Impressionist exhibition was held in the studio of photographer Nadar in Paris. Pissarro was the only person to have works exhibited in all eight Impressionist exhibitions. He was older than the other members of the group and became known as a father figure to them.

5. Edouard Manet

Although there is debate as to whether Manet was an Impressionist, it is certain that he had a great influence on the group. Edouard Manet was born in Paris in 1832 into an upper-middle-class family and became one of the most important artists of the 19th century. He is also well known for his association with the Impressionist group, although he has never exhibited in any official Impressionist exhibition.

Because Manet came from an upper-middle class background, he strove for traditional artistic success, even though he was considered a rebellious painter who produced scandalous works such as; Dejeunet sur l’herbe and Olympia. Manet influenced the works of the Impressionists, and in the 1870s he himself was influenced by them, but at the same time he maintained a certain distance from them. He also continued to submit his work to Salon.

Berthe Morisot, an Impressionist painter and sister-in-law of Edouard Manet, encouraged the artist to paint outdoors. Plein Air, this was a characteristic of the Impressionist movement.Manet painting title boating This work, from 1874, is set in Genevilliers, where Manet was vacationing at the time, and was inspired by Japanese prints. Like many Impressionist works, this work depicts aspects of modern life and leisure. At Genevilliers, Manet often spent time with Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

6. Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot was one of the few female Impressionist painters. She was born in Bourges, France in 1841 and was a descendant of Jean-Honoré Fragonard, who was an important artist in the Rococo style. Morisot received an informal art education from Camille Corot, and on her first attempt in 1864 two of her works were accepted into the Salon. She subsequently exhibited more paintings, but despite receiving positive responses, she stopped presenting her work. She works at famous exhibitions. Instead, Morisot helped organize Impressionist exhibitions, and she participated in seven of her eight Impressionist exhibitions. She was unable to participate in the fourth edition because she fell ill after giving birth to her daughter Julie.

Her home also became a popular location for Impressionist artists and writers. Morisot is known for depicting women, domestic life, and private scenes, including: woman in the toilet. Her work has been praised for depicting women in a non-objectifying way. The artist died of pneumonia in 1895 at just 54 years old.

7. American Impressionist Artist in Paris: Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt is another example of a female Impressionist whose work and achievements were often overshadowed by those of her male colleagues. Cassatt was born in 1844 in Allegheny City, now part of Pittsburgh. From 1861 to her 1865, she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. After her training at the academy, she traveled to Europe, where she presented her work at the Paris Salon in 1872. She was introduced to Degas’s art and became close friends with him.

Degas wanted Cassatt to exhibit her work in Impressionist group exhibitions, which she held in four of the eight. She was the only American to join this group. Like other members of the movement, Mary was also interested in bright colors. She often used her acquaintances as models for her paintings, depicting contemporary scenes from everyday life. boat party.

Later in her career, Cassatt focused on portraying mothers caring for their children. Famous examples of these works include: children’s bath, depicts a mother washing the feet of her small child. The striped dress and the top view of the mother and child show how much Cassatt was inspired by Japanese art. This influence on her became even more pronounced in a series of prints she produced after she visited a Japanese print exhibition held in Paris in 1890. Cassatt also encouraged her friends to purchase Impressionist art, greatly influencing American tastes in art.