How did Impressionism get its name?

Impressionism takes its name from Claude Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise, shown in Paris in 1874. The critic Louis Leroy used the word impression as a jibe, suggesting the work was only a sketch and not a finished painting. The label began as an insult and was later accepted by the artists themselves. [1] [2]

In 1874, about 30 artists organized an exhibition outside the official Salon, which used a jury to select works and award medals. They called themselves the Société Anonyme des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs, etc. The group included Monet, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro, Morisot, Sisley and Cézanne. According to Smarthistory, the show opened on April 15, 1874, in the former studio of the photographer Nadar at 35 Boulevard des Capucines. The Met notes that the group avoided any title implying a unified school, and that it was united mainly by its independence from the Salon. [3] [4] [1]

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen gives an account of the title. Monet's painting was originally called View of Le Havre. The compilers of the exhibition felt that you could not really tell the scene was meant to be Le Havre, so Monet retitled it Impression, soleil levant, or Impression, Sunrise. This is how the word impression entered the catalogue. The painting itself shows short, broken brushstrokes, unblended color and an emphasis on the effects of light. [5] [1]

Louis Leroy wrote a satirical review in the magazine Le Charivari titled Exhibition of the Impressionists. In it a conservative painter, Joseph Vincent, looks at the catalogue entry Impression, Sunrise and remarks that he was certain there was some impression in it. He adds that wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape. Smarthistory says the term stuck from then on. Critics largely met the show with derision, even though it was well attended. [4] [2]

The painters did not reject the word. The Getty says they had adopted it as an identifier of their style and their exhibitions by 1877. The group went on to hold eight exhibitions in all, the last in 1886. [3] [6]