A Little History

Impressionism started as a French movement in the late 19th century.  It is generally characterized as depicting visual impressions not objective reality.  It was met with hostility from critics and the public alike with very few exceptions when the movement first started.  It was began by four students of a painting instructor named Marc Gleyre.  The four were: Monet, Renoir, Sisley, and Bazille.  They often met at a place called the Café Guerbois in Paris, later joined by Cézanne, Pissarro, and Morisot, and later with Degas, Manet, the critics Duret and Rivière, and the art dealer Durand-Ruel.  They observed nature closely, with a scientific interest in visual phenomena. Although they painted everyday subjects, they avoided the vulgar and ugly, seeking visual realism by stylistic means.  Impressionism and postimpressionism eventually became  popular, as evidenced by the major exhibitions of Monet and Van Gogh at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in the 1980s, both of which drew enormous crowds. Record prices to date include two 1990 sales, one at Sotheby’s of Renoir’s Au Moulin de la Galette for $78.1 million, the other at Christie’s of Van Gogh’s Portrait du Dr. Gachet for $82.5 million.

Information about impressionism was obtained from the online  Columbia Encyclopedia
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