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Impressionism Facts & Worksheets

Impressionism is a major movement, first in painting and later in music, that developed chiefly in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Impressionism is a major movement, first in painting and later in music, that developed chiefly in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

See the fact file below for more information on the impressionism or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Impressionism worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

AN INTRODUCTION TO IMPRESSIONISM

  • Impressionism was developed by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and other Paris-based artists from the early 1860s who formed the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers, etc.
  • Despite early criticism to his artwork, Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise, exhibited in 1874, gave the Impressionist movement its name.
  • The Impressionists captured the momentary effects of sunlight by working quickly in front of their subjects in an open environment rather than in a studio.
  • They accurately and objectively recorded visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and color.
  • Rather than using the common neutral white, grays, and blacks, the Impressionists rendered shadows and highlights in color.
  • Their brushwork gave the effect of spontaneity and effortlessness, masking their carefully constructed compositions. This style is seen in Alfred Sisley’s Allée of Chestnut Tree.
  • The views of suburban and rural leisure outside of Paris were a popular subject for the Impressionists, especially Monet and Auguste Renoir.
  • Édouard Manet’s Boating showed the 19th-century development of synthetic pigments for artists’ paints, providing vibrant shades of blue, green, and yellow.
  • The first group exhibition was in Paris in 1874, showcasing the works of Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Paul Cezanne. Seven further exhibitions were then held at intervals until 1886.
  • The Impressionists also painted leisure activities and urban life, including theatrical entertainment, cafés, popular concerts, and dances.
  • Meanwhile, Camille Pissarro and Gustave Caillebotte painted the renovated city of Paris, employing their new style to depict its wide boulevards, public gardens, and grand buildings.
  • By the mid-1880s, the Impressionist artists began to dissolve, as each painter pursued his own interests and principles.

IMPRESSIONISM IN OTHER ARTS

  • Music – Musical Impressionism is characterized by suggestion and atmosphere and renounces the emotionalism of the Romantic era.
  • The composers used short musical forms, such as the nocturne, arabesque, and prelude, and they often explored uncommon scales, such as the whole tone scale.
  • Musical Impressionism includes the work of composers Ottorino Respighi (Italy); Ralph Vaughan Williams, Cyril Scott, and John Ireland (England); and Manuel De Falla and Isaac Albeniz (Spain).
  • Literature – Impressionist literary works depict narrative action through the subjective point of view of the main or any given character, often omitting important details in the process.
  • Authors Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, and Joseph Conrad have written works that are considered Impressionistic.
  • Photography – Impressionist photography is a style of photography characterized by soft focus and atmospheric effects that utilize long exposures to add blur to a photo, creating a dreamy look.
  • Film – Film Impressionism had the most influence in France. Filmmakers include Abel Gance, Jean Epstein, Germaine Dulac, Marcel L’Herbier, Louis Delluc, and Dmitry Kirsanoff.

WOMEN IMPRESSIONISTS

  • Women Impressionists, such as Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond, and Berthe Morisot, were interested in the same ideals of Impressionism.
  • Initially, critics viewed their works within a limited notion of femininity, limiting domestic social life as their subject matter.
  • Women Impressionists were conscious of the balance of power between women and objects in their paintings – the bourgeois women depicted are defined by their interaction with and domination of the things with which they live.

POST-IMPRESSIONISM

  • Post-Impressionism is the art movement that developed between 1886 and 1905 as a reaction against Impressionists’ concern for the natural depiction of light and color.
  • Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, and the eldest of the group, Paul Cézanne, developed a technique using simplified colors and definitive forms. Their art was characterized by personal aesthetic sense, as well as abstract tendencies.

Impressionism Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the impressionism across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Impressionism worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the impressionism which is a major movement, first in painting and later in music, that developed chiefly in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Impressionism Facts
  • The Impressionist
  • Impressionism in Music
  • Impressionism Meets Fashion
  • Impressionist Photography
  • Impressionist Literature
  • Words to Impress
  • Impressionism vs. Expressionism
  • Practice Coloring
  • My Impressionist Art
  • Art Impressions

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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