...so what do you suppose the word impressionist means in art terms dear viewer? (try thinking about it before clicking the link and checking out the glossary buddy.) actually, don't stress too hard, because the word means exactly what it sounds like: artists who aimed to capture a slice of a moment, the "impression" of an instant. the description stemmed from one art critic using the word as a derogatory label against the new avante-garde way artists in the 1800s were viewing, and portraying, their world. instead of the usual carefully lined perspectives and practically invisible but detailed brushwork that are the hallmarks of "high" art, impressionists such as monét, degas, and cassatt were always looking around to catch a naturally occuring arrangement of figures and things on the fly. (for all you hip and trendy photographers, the impressionist style was very much similar to the credo of today's lomography style.)

...what does this all mean when applied visually? the innate quality of spontaneity in the impressionist artist's way of thinking spawned images that seem to be wholly unarranged and unorganized compared to art works of more traditional styles. in our example, the artist caught several ballerinas on a stage wing in a moment of stretching before their performance. cutting the ballerina on the right in half was not a boo-boo by the artist. by setting her up as if she's leaving our range of view and then tilting the walls and floor towards our direction (as if inviting us to join the stretching ballerina), degas managed give the viewer a sense of hey, we just walked in on a couple of ballerinas waiting on the stage wing. there's a sense of casual spontaneity as well as an interaction between the viewer and the painted subjects that just were not as effectively presented in past works. there are no renaissance paintings that invite you to, say, join the holy family for a chat.

...another really important element of impressionism is their fascination with color. while some took the study of color to a new level of technical application, other impressionists applied their theories of color through texture of stroke or contrasted pure colors to create a new light. degas' personally touch in that arena was using pastels in rough, broad strokes which provided texture, movement, and light to his canvases. this technique is used to great effect in the ballerinas above as the skirts on their costumes gain that fluffy, scratchy quality of tulle and seem to reflect with the fall of light. plus, the bright pinks just stand out strongly against the pukey green and browns of the wall and floor.