Impressionism

In 1863, the French Academy Salon jury turned down over three thousand works, forcing Napoleon III to create a separate exhibition called the Salon des Refuses, or Salon of the Rejected Ones. In this exhibition, Edouard Manet featured Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe, and created a scandal throughout Paris. Though his roots were in Realism, his artistic maturity brought this Realism to a new level, one that future Impressionists would follow.* Known for their ability to capture a moment - whether of nature, social leisure, city life or the upper middle class- these artists stepped boldly away from the conventions of the Academy and produced a chain reaction that would soon end the dictation of what was called "acceptable art". Two factors stand out as having an effect on this new movement: the invention of the paint tube, allowing an artist to bring their studio outdoors, and, although not considered artistic competition until a bit later, photography. Check out the artists listed in this category and see how they captured moments or the play of daylight. And as always, if you don't see the image you are looking for, contact us. We can still recreate it.

*Art History: Eighteenth to Twenty-First Century Art, Third Edition; Marilyn Stokstad; Pearson Education (2009)