Impressionism began as a 19th century art movement, and was created by a loose association of radical, Paris based artists in the 1860s. The name of the movement is derived from Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise (Impression, Soleil Levant). The impressionist style of painting broke the picture making rules of earlier generations, and is characterised by short, broken and deliberately visible strokes, texturing with thick paint, light colours using pure and unmixed pigments, open composition, emphasis on the evanescent qualities of light, ordinary subject matters and unusual visual angles. Impressionism captures a fresh and original vision that rejects attempts to portray ideal beauty. Instead, impressionism sees beauty in candid, day-to-day scenes, and the emphasis is on overall effect rather than in details.

Expressionism developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and may be described as the tendency to distort reality for emotional effect. Expressionism is characterised by the use of violent colors and exaggerated lines that help convey intense emotional expression. Application of formal elements is vivid and dynamic, and sometimes jarring or violent.

Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise). Claude Monet - 1873.
The painting shows the sun seen through mist at the harbour of Le Havre where he stayed in 1872.
This painting was first exhibited in 1874 in the first exhibition of the impressionist group.

The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893) which inspired 20th century Expressionists.

To find out more about impressionism, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

To find out more about expressionism, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism

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