Early Fine Art Dealers specializes in valuing and purchasing important paintings from the 17th century through the early 20th century. Our buyers are in constant search for fine works of art and paintings, spanning the globe for original well-known Old Master, European, American, and early California art. Each year we preview and participate in hundreds of private sales, art shows, gallery showings, exhibitions and auctions. We are in constant search for fine works to purchase. Please contact us today to discuss the sale of one of your paintings. Please note that our gallery only deals with original paintings. No Prints Please.
WE ARE DEALERS OF ORIGINAL PAINTINGS: To contact one of our gallery fine art experts about selling your painting or buying paintings for your collection, complete the form below. Please note that our gallery only deals with original paintings. NO PRINTS PLEASE.
French Impressionism
French Impressionism is the original school of painting that worked to capture the artist's "impression" of the light and shadow of the scene, and not the realistic image. It evolved from a desire to reject the heavily Academic style of art at work in mid-nineteenth century France.
Its first practitioners worked "en plein air", which meant outdoors with the intention of finishing the work at the scene. They used special methods to render their immediate surroundings, the conditions of light and shadow and to convey what they were seeing. They did not do this in the Realistic manner that was popularly accepted, but by a combination of brilliant color and rapid, short brush strokes.
The style earned its name from one of the first canvases reviewed, the "Impression, Sunrise" by Claude Monet. Though the group of painters that had come together for the first Impressionist exhibition did not particularly favor the name, it stuck, and from 1876 to 1886 they had seven more exhibitions. The artists who submitted to these shows included Monet, Berthe Morisot, Pierre Renoir, Edgar Degas, Pissarro and Alfred Sisley; later Eduard Manet and Gustave Caillebotte would join them as well.
The popularity of this style is still seen in the modern era, with many contemporary painters employing the style in their work. The true French Impressionism faded towards the end of the nineteenth century as changing modes in art and experimentation allowed it to be transformed into several other styles, including Pointillism and Fauvism, which are placed under the heading of "Post-Impressionism". It also was taken up by American artists where it further evolved under "American Impressionism" and even "California Impressionism".