Everything originates somewhere in the past, includingincluding art. Directions in painting have changed along with the times, and current trends are not understood by everyone. But everything new is a well-forgotten old, and to understand the current painting, one does not need to know the history of art from ancient times, it is enough only to recall the paintings of the XIX and XX centuries.
The middle of the 19th century is a time of change not only in thehistory, but also art. All that was before: classicism, romanticism and all the more academicism - the flow, limited to a certain framework. In France 50-60-ies of the trend in painting asked the official Salon, but the typical "salon" art suited not all, it explained the new directions that appeared. In painting of that time there was a revolutionary explosion that broke with centuries-old traditions and foundations. And one of the epicenter was Paris, where in the spring of 1874 young painters, including Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, Renoir and Cezan, organized their own exhibition. The works presented there were completely different from the salon ones. Artists used a different method - reflexes, shadows and light were transmitted by pure paints, individual strokes, the shape of each object seemed to dissolve in an air-light environment. No other direction in painting knew such methods. These effects helped to maximally express their impressions of ever changing things, nature, people. One journalist called the group "Impressionists", thereby he wanted to show his disdain for young artists. But they accepted this term, and he eventually took root and went into active use, having lost negative meaning. So there was an impressionism, unlike all other directions in the painting of the 19th century.
Initially, the response to innovation was more thanhostile. Too bold and new painting to buy no one wanted, and even feared, because all the critics did not take the Impressionists seriously, laughed at them. Many said that the Impressionist artists wanted to achieve rapid glory, they were not satisfied with the sharp break with conservatism and academicism, as well as unfinished and "sloppy" kind of work. But to abandon their beliefs, the artists could not even bring hunger and poverty, and they showed tenacity until their painting was finally recognized. But the recognition had to wait too long, some Impressionist artists were no longer alive.
As a result, the current that began in Paris in the sixtieswas of great importance for the development of world art of the XIX and XX centuries. After all, the future trends in painting were based on Impressionism. Each subsequent style appeared in search of a new one. Post-impressionism was engendered by the same Impressionists who decided that their method was limited: a deep and multivalued symbolism was the answer to painting that "lost its meaning", and modern even calls its name to a new one. Of course, since 1874 there have been a lot of changes in art, but all modern trends in painting one way or another are based on a fleeting Parisian impression.
