Impressionism - the last good school of art

Impressionism was the prevalent French art movement in the late 19th century. It was one of the last art movements in history that held a positive view of existence and men. It included giants like Monet, Manet, Sisley and Renoir.  

The invention of the modern Camera Obscura had a tremendous effect on painters. It made them question what is the purpose of painting after it became possible to “capture the moment” with one push of a button. The impressionist’s technique was mimicking the camera: they chose one specific “frame” and used open compositions; the paintings focused on one narrow-angle or one part of a larger scene that was continued off the screen. It made the painting feel more alive and made the viewer feel as if they were taking part in the depicted scene. 

The subjects of many impressionistic paintings were 19th-century upper-class lifestyles. Paintings like “Luncheon of the Boating Party” and “Bal du moulin de la Galette” by Renoir are perhaps most infamous for that.

(Luncheon of the Boating Party 1881)

Other painters like Sisley and Monet focused on painting the beautiful scenery of France at that time.

(Argenteuil 1874, Manet)

What is common to the aforementioned painters is that they depict the 19th century in a positive, benevolent way. Their paintings are lively, colourful, and realistic. They focus on the beautiful, not the ugly. Look at “Luncheon of the Boating Party” for example, people are wearing nice clothes, they are enjoying a fine meal, everyone is looking at each other, they all seem friendly, and the scene is very alluring. It makes me want to jump into the painting and enjoy a nice glass of French wine. 

Of course, the impressionist movement is not perfect. There are a plethora of impressionists that did stick to the ugly and the malevolent. Degas in his famous painting “L'Absinthe” depicts a lonely French woman sitting next to a dubious-looking man while drinking a glass of absinthe.

(L'Absinthe 1876)

Another good example is “Waiting” by Degas where he shows us two miserable women: one is a ballerina and the other is a much older all-black wearing lady. Many more painters like Degas from the impressionist movement did view the 19th century as a time in which people became lonely and miserable. A view which later early 20th-century German expressionists carried along in their own respective horror shows. 

(Waiting 1882)

As you may know, it is the worse elements in impressionism that carried on to later movements. with that being said, there is a lot of great value that can be taken from some impressionists, they were revolutionary artists that went against the old fashioned academic schools and took their artistic vision to the maximum. Even though it is not romantic art, it is still good art, as Ayn Rand said in The Esthetic Vacuum of Our Age, “Art is a concretisation of metaphysics”. What Renoir showed us in the scene of the Boating Party was his own metaphysical value judgments: the universe is benevolent - value achievement is possible, men can be happy on Earth.