A celebration of the Impressionists artists, including Monet, Renoir and
Pissarro, whose paintings are inextricably linked to the birth of modern
art. Today, our passion for these artists remains, and their paintings
are amongst the best-loved works in the history of art.
By choosing to paint extraordinary pictures of modernity that shocked
the bourgeois elite, the Impressionists challenged the academic ideals
of the French Salons, rejected the past and embracing colour to portray
a sense of joie de vivre. Their revolutionary use of colour, free
brushstrokes and modern subject matter, painted en plain air gave rise
to one of the most important and influential art movements of the
nineteenth century.
Featuring many of the most famous and important pieces by the groups'
key figures, this beautifully illustrated reference book also includes a
collection of less well-known but equally important works to show the
diversity of this exceptional movement.