Impression, Sunrise

Impression, Sunrise, is an oil painting created by Claude Monet in 1872. The artistic movement known as Impressionism owes its name to this influential work.

Impression, Sunrise was first shown in 1874 at an independent exhibition in Paris that was organized by a group of artists including Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas. The show served as an alternative to the traditional, state-run Salon and allowed artists to work in radically new ways. In a review of the exhibition, the critic Louis Leroy condemned Impression, Sunrise, arguing that it was nothing more than a sketch, and, in a negative context, he dubbed the show “The Exhibition of the Impressionists,” a term that several members of the group proudly adopted.

Leroy’s response is understandable: Monet’s painting broke many artistic conventions. The artist’s work does indeed have a sketchlike quality, owing to his loose, broken brushwork that does not define what it represents. This technique is largely the result of the Impressionist desire to capture the fleeting moment en plein air. Impression, Sunrise was not executed in a studio but from a window overlooking the harbor of Le Havre. From this window Monet painted the modern city awakening at dawn, requiring him to use quick brushstrokes before the view changed.

Conversely, Impression, Sunrise is also a calculated work that shows an interest in color theory. While the Sun appears to pierce the morning mist because of its intense orange color, in reality it has the same luminance as its surroundings. In a black-and-white photograph, the Sun is almost indistinguishable from its background, an effect that Monet did not achieve by accident.