“For an impressionist, it is not directly drawing nature, drawing it as it seems, but reviving the sensations it creates.” -Paul Cézanne

A group of painters, who would later be called impressionists, began to meet regularly at Café Guerbois in Paris to exchange ideas from 1862. Although their style was different, the philosophy they shared was common. They reacted to the style and subject constraints of the authoritarian Academy of Fine Arts, which ruled the art world at that time. They advocated leaving the rooms and painting outdoors. Edouard Manet, one of the pioneers of realism, was among the most influenced people.

The Academy organized Hall exhibitions every year, and it was not possible for a work other than the subjects and styles that they determined. In 1863, Manet and Gustave Courbet wanted to display their works in the Salon, but the jury rejected this request. Since many works were rejected at that time, III. Napoleon opened the Hall of Rejection (Salon des Refusés), stating that the public should have a say in the evaluation of the works. Although many people went to this exhibition just to make fun of it, it was the first time that the idea that art could go out of approved styles and that artists could also exhibit their works outside the Hall. Upon this, independent art communities started to form.

In 1873, a group of Anonymous Artists, Painter Sculptors and Engravers was formally established by painters participating in the meetings, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley. Later, names such as Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas joined the community. They held their first independent exhibitions in 1874. Like many visitors, art critic Leroy found this exhibition insufficient and helpless, and in his sarcastic criticism Monet’s painting meant Impression: Sunrise, referring to the exhibition as “Impressionists’ exhibition”. However, Monet and his friends gave this name to Leroy, and gave the same name to the exhibition they will organize a few years later. They held eight exhibitions between 1874 and 1876.

“… We had no black one morning, we used a navy blue instead, and that was the impressionism at that moment.” -Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The artists were creating their works by being influenced by the philosophy of Realism, Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, scientific color theories, and techniques of using light developed with the invention of photography. Their aim was to free and modernize art from its continuing monotony. They depict ordinary moments from everyday life outdoors, leaving pronounced brush strokes, using pure colors that emphasize the effects of light rather than meticulously crafted details. No object was painted flat in one color. Colorful shadows resulted in flickering color effects. They believed that they caught the transience of the moment by focusing on the change of light in their paintings, which they mostly completed outdoors. They argued that the artist should bring the subjective interpretations to the forefront, based on the feelings and thoughts aroused in himself, not the truth, but the realism and objectivity.

Despite the criticism and opposition they faced, they insisted on their ideas. The works of the Impressionists, one of the leading groups in the development of modern painting art, started to be accepted by the public over time.

Source: Hodge Susie, Gerçekten Bilmeniz Gereken 50 Sanat Fikri, Domingo yayınları, İstanbul 2013 (sy. 76-79)

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