Impressionism Vs Claude Monet

The Impressionism period for the longest time was considered to be the first distinctly modern movement in painting. The Impression period first started in Paris in the 1860s and its influence spread throughout all of Europe and eventually made it’s way to the United States. The originators of this time period were artists who rejected the official; government subsidized exhibitions, or what the French would call, “salons”, and they were consequently shunned away by powerful academic art institutions such as the, “Acedémie des Beaux Arts" (Academy of Fine Arts). Removing themselves from the fine finish and details to which most artists of their day aspired, the Impressionists during this time, their goal was to capture the momentary, sensory

They wanted to capture the impression objects made on the eye. To be able to achieve this effect, many Impressionist artists moved from their small studios to the streets and the countryside, painting en plein-air.

Among these impressionists, is Claude Monet and he is perhaps the most commonly known of the Impressionists. Claude Monet is known for his mastery of natural light and painted several different times of the day in an attempt to capture changing conditions of the environment. Monet tended to paint simple impressions or subtle hints of his subjects, by using very soft brushstrokes and unmixed colors to create a more natural vibrating effect, as if nature itself was alive on the canvas. One technique that is identifiable from Monet is the “wet-on-wet” technique. Monet did not wait for paint to dry before applying layers upon layers. These layers helped produce softer edges and “blurred” boundaries that suggested a

A group of poets known as, the Symbolists began poetry in which the words that were used were used purely for their sounds and not for their actual meaning. Symbolists tried to convey impression by suggestion instead of definition. Music compositions from the Impressionism period contained some of the same characteristics of impressionist paintings. Impressionist composers and its music at the time were breaking away from classical techniques. In the impressionism spectrum, Debussy is to impressionist music as Monet is to painting, meaning in that they are both the father figures of their medium in which they portray the impressionist style. Impressionist music was very much like the paintings; they stirred emotions to their audience. Claude Debussy was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music but he never ever considered himself an Impressionist instead he considered himself a “Realist” (Classical 1). Debussy’s style and works are closely similar to those of the impressionists. For instance, in order to achieve an effect that was comparable to that painted by the visual artists, Debussy emphasized those musical elements that could be immediately grasped and understood the instant they were heard, namely timbre and harmonic color. Claude