Birth of Impressionism

This volume contains a collection of one hundred works by the masters of nineteenth-century French painting telling the story of the Impressionist movement that changed the way artists view the world and the way the world views art. This book tells the story of the beloved Impressionist movement, focusing on the tumultuous period of the 1860s and 1870s and the emergence of the New Painting out of the Paris Salon. Reproductions of French painting masterpieces from the canvases of Bouguereau to the landscapes and peasant scenes of Millet and Courbet set the stage for a rich visual narrative that recounts the incubation and evolution of the Impressionist movement. The range of subject matter and techniques reflects the stylistic diversity of the artists who were part of this revolution. This work includes paintings by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Cezanne, Morisot, and Degas, among others. The paintings have been selected and thematically grouped to prompt discussion of Impressionism's many facets, including France's turbulent social and political climate at the time, the state-run Salon system and the artistic rivalries it fostered, and aspects of daily life during the Belle Epoque.