impressionism

[ im-presh-uh-niz-uhm ]

noun

1. Fine Arts.
   1. (usually initial capital letter) a style of painting developed in the last third of the 19th century, characterized chiefly by short brush strokes of bright colors in immediate juxtaposition to represent the effect of light on objects.
   2. a manner of painting in which the forms, colors, or tones of an object are lightly and rapidly indicated.
   3. a manner of sculpture in which volumes are partially modeled and surfaces roughened to reflect light unevenly.
2. a theory and practice in literature that emphasizes immediate aspects of objects or actions without attention to details.
3. a late-19th-century and early-20th-century style of musical composition in which lush harmonies, subtle rhythms, and unusual tonal colors are used to evoke moods and impressions.

impressionism

/ ɪmˈprɛʃəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. often capital a movement in French painting, developed in the 1870s chiefly by Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and Sisley, having the aim of objectively recording experience by a system of fleeting impressions, esp of natural light effects
2. the technique in art, literature, or music of conveying experience by capturing fleeting impressions of reality or of mood

impressionism

1. A style of painting associated mainly with French artists of the late nineteenth century, such as Edgar Degas , Edouard Manet , Claude Monet , and Pierre-Auguste Renoir . Impressionist painting seeks to re-create the artist's or viewer's general impression of a scene. It is characterized by indistinct outlines and by small brushstrokes of different colors, which the eye blends at a distance. Soft, pastel colors appear frequently in impressionist paintings.

Word History and Origins

Origin of impressionism¹

1880–85; impression + -ism; compare German Impressionismus, French impressionnisme

Example Sentences

Her attachment to impressionism leads this artist to many experiments in color—or, as one critic wrote, "to play with color."

From Project Gutenberg

You should understand what "impressionism" really is, and what it is not, and what the impressionist stands for.

From Project Gutenberg

May the gods guard us from the further popularising of Impressionism; for the point of honour is the simple secret of the few.

From Project Gutenberg

The result was the second stage, which my enemies call inchoate and I call Impressionism.

From Project Gutenberg

French masterpieces Impressionism and the rest of it did not interest him to-night.

From Project Gutenberg