Definition of impressionism

In asking what is defined as impressionist artwork, one could as well as "What defines passion" or "What defines the soul"? The answers to these are of course numerous and undeniably complex. But so is impressionism, as it does not rely on one specific reason for its existence, but on a variety of shared ideas, passions and freedoms that sought to differentiate itself from the constraints of a morbid belief system. These are, however, only abstract concepts; impressionism can be depicted, to a very large degree through an instruction of techniques and colours but would ultimately not exist without a singular very important aspect of humanity: essence.

Impressionist paintings usually imply the use of light, bright colours to bring about the natural effect of lights and shadows, often focussing on the play of light on reflective surfaces as can be seen in Impression, Soleil levant by Claude Monet. Also noted in the aforementioned work as well as other impressionist works is the use of short and rather thick brush strokes of paint that has been applied impasto to rather suggest something than directly state its presence. This is usually done by painting on already wet paint - another technique that produces softer edges as well as a slight blending of colours. The latter should however not be understood as a blatant mixing of colours, as impressionist techniques dictate that colours should rather be applied side-by-side with the sole purpose that the colours should be mixed in the mind, or rather the perception, of the viewer.

Another interesting point to note is that the use of black is discouraged by "pure impressionists". Should a painter wish to use grey or any other dark tones, it should be done by through the mixing of colours. But impressionism does not only concern the use of colours and painting techniques. It also concern the content of the specific work and that which is perceived from it.

It was also during the time of the impressionist movement that photography started gaining public popularity, something which greatly influenced the work of early impressionists - where the focal point of a work used to be centred around a subject or an idea, it became an image, a "snapshot", of contemporary life. As such even more limitations were removed in what was described as "correct" or "completed" art and a fusion occurred between the background and the subject. This saw the further development of the principles of impressionism, but not without its challenges: photographs seemed to gainsay the merits of impressionism; it produced the exact image with all its detail, reflection and form on such a level as to undermine the principles of impressionism.

The retaliation of this was a further development into the impressionist philosophy and exceeding that boundary where photography cannot compete: subjectivity. Where a photographic snapshot eliminates a personal perception of a scene, impressionism managed to retain that perception, also termed, "the essence".