Impressionism

Just before his death, Claude Monet wrote: "e;I'm still sorry to have been the cause of the name given to this group, most of whom were not in the least bit impressionistic"e;. Starting with this paradox - an ensemble that saw itself as a coherent group, while affirming artistic individuality as the ultimate goal - the author, Nathalia Brodskaia, explores the contradictions of late nineteenth-century art. Was it not Manet who evoked the definitive formula: "e;I paint what I see and not what others want to see"e; ? There would be a long way to go before the world recognised the difference between traditional, academic art and the birth of modern, non-figurative painting. After analysing the essential elements of the Impressionist movement, Nathalia Brodskaia pursues, across the A uvre of each of the main players, the search for "e;that conviction they had, of justice in their principles and value in their art"e;. From this assertion of difference, modern painting was born.