Impressionism french

A painting technique in which the artist concentrates on the changing effects of light and color. Often this style can be characterized by its use of discontinuous brush strokes and heavy impasto. It was the first great modern art movement, beginning in France with an exhibition held in Paris in 1874. Inspiring the movement were attitudes of anti-establishment, and a desire to paint modern life subjects rahter than prescribed classical and/or historical subjects. The leader of the movement was Claude Monet (1840-1926), and it was his painting, "Sunrise" exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1872 that led to critic Louis Leroy coining the term "Impressionism" in a "satanic review". Other early Impressionists active in France were Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, and Mary Cassatt. The term continues to be used in the 20th century to characterize discontinuous brushwork that allows the play of light with color. Two schools of Impressionism have evolved---American and French with French Impressionists less concerned with form than the Americans. Source: Charles Moffat, "The Birth of Impressionism", http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/impressionism/French-Impressionism.html