Waldemar Januszczak in a funny and witty way introduces this series. You can both learn and have a laugh watching this documentary.
The author shows us a bunch of chocolate boxes, puzzle boxes and umbrellas with the impressionist images printed on them, a tourist souvenirs; highly commercialized art. This art nowadays seems sweet and pleasant - sweet enough to put in on the chocolate box. But is it really? Was it really so sweet and innocent? Are we looking at it the wrong way? We clearly are!
Back when those paintings were made, some 150 years ago, they were artistically dangerous and revolutionary. As the author said, rather than on the box of chocolate, they belong on the box of dynamite!
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was born Jacob-Abraham-Camille Pissarro in Virgin Islands, then in the Danish West Indies. He is the only artist to have shown his work at all eight Paris Impressionist exhibitions, from 1874 to 1886. His father was of Portuguese Jewish descent and held French nationality. His mother was from a French-Jewish family from the island of St. Thomas. The Jewish religion forbids art, so in that way, he was also revolutionary. He came to Paris in 1855 and found that the city has undergone a big changes. Everything was changing and moving rapidly, so art also had to follow this fast- pasted speed.
In 1841 a significant invention made that possible- in England John Rand invented and patented the first collapsible artist's paint tube, so it made the paint portable! - Which led to more painting outdoors.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), also witnessed that Paris was changing rapidly (Napoleon IIIrd rebuilt of Paris), and figured that art had to change as well.
Claude Monet (1840-1926), wanted to paint the real world. The real people, the new working class, his neighbours. His brushstrokes show the spirit of revolution.
Generally, if you want to see the rebellion and fire of Impressionist painting, you have to stand really close to the painting to see the brushstrokes- as close as the museum lets you.
Renoir and Monet went boating together on the Seine, and on one of those boating trips in 1869, they discovered La Grenouillere, a floating bar on the river. There the Parisians, the working class, were drinking and dancing and enjoying Sunday afternoons. Weekends as we know them were invented approximately at that time. So Monet and Renoir, both there, painted it, capturing the people, light and the water. They captured both the reflection on the water, as well as the spirit and atmosphere of the people. By watching the painting you can almost hear their song and laughter, and smell the nature and river surrounding them. Monet was constantly painting water, from the Seine, to the lily pond in Giverny at the end of his life.
Another great innovation made all this fast painting possible- the invention of flat brush. Before that, the painters used the round brush, which made the painting surface smooth and precise. This flat brush revolutionized art. With the expressive brushstrokes and quick painting, the artist could capture the elusive effect, the passing moment, the song, the laughter, generally- the atmosphere of the moment. They capture both the look and spirit of that age.
Also, the invention of new portable travelling easel made it perfect for outdoor painting, as well as the rapid expansion of French railway network- so that the nature could be approached easily, simpler and cheaper.
Frederic Bazille (1841-1870), is maybe the "least known" of the Impressionist founders, but was probably the most talented one. He was the first who suggested forming the art group. And it was done in 1873, the first exhibition was held in 1874 in the studio of the famous French photographer- Nadar. At that time a group was called "Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers", name far too long and not too catchy, but the art critic Louis Leroy, writing about the first exhibition, named the article with mockery "The exhibition of the Impressionists", based on the name of Monet's painting "Impression, Sunrise". However, the term Impressionist gained favour with the public; it was certainly shorter than the official name of the group. The rest is (art) history.
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