Impression Sunrise
Claude Monet (November 14, 1840--December 5, 1926), French artist, he is representative personage and one of the founders of Impressionism. Monet is one of the most important artists in France, impressionism theory and practice promotes his style in large extent. Monet is expert in experimenting and performing light and shadow.
View from the generation and development of Impressionism, the founder will be Edouard Manet other than anybody else. However the one, who actually realize Impressionism ideas and techniques completely, is Monet. He spent his whole life dedicated to Impressionism, which has important impact on western art circle. The endeavor of Monet and the group of artists led by him, they broke the academism's conservative thoughts, and caused a tremendous shock to the official art which had dominated the western art circle in latter half of 19th century he opened a new page for modern western art history and made an important contribution, which left a valuable artistic wealth for future generations. So we should say that Monet is the one who achieved success earliest among all Impressionism artists. Although the Fauvism, Cubism, ultra-realism which came later did not follow principles founded by Impressionism, yet the founders of these arts had learned from Impressionism more or less.
Also to mention is the philosophy and techniques of the Impressionism, it aimed to base on the observation of reality, however, because of enthusiasm in describing light and color, even make them mystery, which leads to a tendency disregarding realistic images. Monet once said: when painting, you have to forget about what kind of objects your eyes have seen, but only think of a small square of blue, a small rectangular of pink, and a tiny bit of yellow. Therefore, the painter's attention is not focus on the scene to be performed, but on the effect created by the space environment, light, smoke, airflow around the scenery, or in a certain condition, just limited to the painter's instant impression on the light over the scenery.
