The second half of the 1800s was turbulent, but no less so in the art world. A new school of art was emerging in the heart of Paris: the Impressionist movement.

In the 1870s, as the reign of the last French emperor Napoleon III drew to a close, new artists were taking center-stage. Young painters like Claude Monet and Pierre-August Renoir formed their own art exhibitions in defiance of conservative institutions like the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Monet himself inspired the name "Impressionism" with his painting Impression, Sunrise. What most art critics at the time objected to was the movement's emphasis of color over lines, resulting in more vibrant but less organized scenes than the classic traditions allowed for. With such a radical start, the Impressionists would go on to inspire another generation of French artists like Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.

To understand the Impressionist style of painting, consider these traits:

• Large, obvious brush strokes
• Bright, intermingling colors
• An unfocused use of light on the canvas
• An ordinary subject matter (e.g., a simple landscape or people in everyday life)
• An outdoor setting (in fact, many Impressionist artworks were themselves painted outdoors)
• Gray or dark color tones where black paint would normally be used

In some ways, the Impressionist style was a reaction to the new field of photography. While a photographer could capture an accurate image of reality, an Impressionist felt that something was lost in the work. An artist had to be subjective, which their paintings reflect with less distinct lines and more vivid colors.

You can find many Impressionist paintings at art galleries and museums around the world. To be specific, you might consider the Musée d'Orsay in Paris or the National Gallery in London.

Image by DarFin Oil Painting on Flickr