#Claude Monet Impression Sunrise modern series

Thus, the movement of impressionism was born. His review described the style of work displayed in the exhibition as impressionism and described Monet’s work as representing this style perfectly. Louis Leroy reviewed the exhibition for the La Charivari newspaper and referred to it as the ‘Exhibition of the Impressionist’. The term was originally used as a way of describing the effects of the scene on a painter or the effect that paintings had on viewers.įollowing the exhibition featuring Monet’s 'Impression, Sunrise', the term impressionism was applied in a different way. It was also a term associated with the work of Manet and Daubigny. The term impressionism was not new and was used prior to Monet’s work, particularly to describe paintings from the Barbizon school. Regardless of the title, the piece did receive criticism for exactly those reasons. Some later said that he chose the title to avoid criticism from those who would say the painting lacked detail or appeared unfinished. Therefore, he titled the piece 'Impression: Soleil Levant', or 'Impression: Sunrise'. In explanation of his title choice, he attributed his hazy painting style to using the term ‘Impression’ as he felt that the term ‘view’ was not an accurate reflection of the painting style. Amongst those exhibiting their work were Degas, Sisley, Renoir and Pissarro.Īccording to Monet, he gave the painting a title as he was asked to do so for the exhibition catalogue.

The painting made its debut onto the art scene alongside the work of 30 other artists in an exhibition that was initially called ‘Painters, Sculptors, Engravers etc. This piece was painted from his hotel room just as dawn was breaking.

#Claude Monet Impression Sunrise modern series

The most famous in this series was ‘Impression, Sunrise’.

There is a total of six canvases that depict the port in different ways at dawn, during the day, at dusk, in the dark, from the water and from the viewpoint of his hotel room. During these visits, he would paint scenes in the area, including the port. Le Havre in Northwest France was Monet’s hometown and during 1872 he visited the area regularly.