Impressionism

Lesson 3: Use of Light

Color and Light

The primary contribution made by the Impressionists to the development of painting was their use of a simple palette of pure colours rather than of pre-mixed colors. For example, the artists would create a green by using various shades of the colors that make up green: blue and yellow and then blending them while they were still wet on the canvas. The artists also painted on a white primed canvas rather than on a dark one as the classical and academic painters had done. This gave a lighter tone to the Impressionists’ paintings, which also came from working in natural light.

Why not try to learn to think like an impressionist! Which of the following colour combinations would you use to depict a dawn sky?



Did you choose #4? So did Monet! Go to the Web site for the American National Gallery of Art at http://www.nga.gov/ Click Search, find the link to Artist/Title Search, then search for Monet. Once you've found information about Monet, look for Monet's The Seine at Giverny. This painting is one of many that Monet did during the 1890's as part of a systematic study of the dawn light over the Seine River.

Which of the following colour combinations would you use to depict a bright afternoon sky?



Did you choose #2? So did Alfred Sisley!. Go to the Web Museum, Paris site at http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/ Click the link to Famous Paintings, then search for Sisley. When you get to the page for Sisley, read about him and then check out Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne.  This painting is a great example of bright afternoon sky as seen through the eyes of one of the Impressionist movement's lesser known artists.

Which of the following colour combinations would you use to depict a twilight sky?



You chose #3, right? Just like Monet! Check out the Web site for the Marmottan Museum in Paris, a lovely little gallery that features an incredible collection of paintings by Monet. Enter the Web site at http://www.marmottan.com Follow links to the Monet collection, then find the painting of London at twilight called Londres. Le Parlement. Reflets sur la Tamise.

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