'Impression, Sunrise' by Claude Monet

Impression, Sunrise - The painting that inspired the name of the Impressionist movement

Impression, Sunrise (French: Impression, soleil levant) is a painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the "Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movement. The painting was created from a scene in the port of Le Havre. Monet depicts a mist, which provides a hazy background to the piece set in the French harbor. The focus of this painting is almost entirely on color and light. The brushwork is loose, the detail is simple and the composition is fairly basic. From the 15th April to 15th May 1874 Monet exhibited his work together with Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, and some other thirty artists. They organized their exhibition on their own as they were usually rejected at the Paris Salon. Most visitors were disgusted and even outraged over such a graffiti. Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise enjoyed the most attention and some visitors even claimed that they were absolutely unable to recognize what was shown at all. Art critic Louis Leroy wrote about the exhibition in the newspaper Le Charivari and used the term "Impressionism" to mock the loose and relaxed nature of the paintings. But, despite the intended criticism, the artists adopted the term as the name of the movement, Impressionism.