A new edition of Belinda Thomson's highly accessible survey, which brings together the latest research on this perennially popular art movement.

The enduring popularity of Impressionism belies what the group of painters dubbed the Impressionists stood for. In the 1870s and 1880s, French artists, including Pissarro, Monet, Degas, Morisot and Renoir, adopted a revolutionary style of technique and subject matter that defied the traditions of the French Academy and the Salons. Rooted in anarchism, political radicalism, and a belief in science and individualism, their paintings captured modern life in ways never seen before.

Belinda Thomson’s insightful study sheds light on the personal lives and creative thinking of the Impressionists, exploring the factors that shaped their masterpieces. From family backgrounds to the importance of the art market and the critical reception that challenged yet ultimately defined their work, this introduction offers a nuanced exploration of one of the most transformative movements in art history.

'Full of new insights and informed by recent developments in the social history of art, it is also, to its credit, written in an eloquent and eminently readable style' - Linda Nochlin

Belinda Thomson is an independent art historian specializing in 19th and early 20th-century French art. She has published widely on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist topics. She was awarded an honorary professorship in history of art at the University of Edinburgh in 2011 and made Chevalier dans l’Ordre des arts et des lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2013.