Impressionism(印象主义)

Impressionism is a form of art which began in the 1870’s. when you look closely at an impressionist painting, you see little dots(点) of different colored paints. When you move away from the picture, the dots of colors blends(混合) and the painting looks like it has light playing on the people and objects in the picture.
Impressionism art is different from traditional art. Traditional painters were interested in the form of objects. The impressionists were interested in light and color. The impressionist painters wanted to paint natural light which was lively and bright. They tried to express the feeling of pure sunshine in their paintings. When traditional artists mixed paints, they could not create the feeling of bright, natural light. Therefore, instead of mixing colors, the impressionists used small dots of pure colors. The viewer’s eyes put these unmixed colors together the same way they add colors in light together. When you look at an impressionist painting, it feels the same as when you look at an object in lively, natural sunlight.

Traditional painters worked inside. Impressionist painters worked outside because they wanted to paint the effect of sunlight on objects. Monet (1839-1926), for example, made a series of painting of a haystack(干草堆). Every morning he went to a field with eight or ten paintings. All day, he sat in front of a haystack painting. Every hour he worked on a different picture. All of these paintings (1890) are pictures of the haystack. However, they do not look the same because sunlight has different effects on objects at different hours. Monet made his painting directly from nature. His study of the haystack is an hour-by-hour record of the artistry(艺术性) of light.

What can be learned about traditional painters from this passage?