Mary’s Landscape Art Info

Most impressionists preferred to paint en plein air and the invention of the paint tube in 1841 made outdoor painting more convenient. To capture fleeting moments and the changing effects of light on landscape, artists must paint quickly and use loose or sketchy brushstrokes. The correct color must be immediately chosen and put on the canvas in one application called alla prima (“at once”) painting. Otherwise, they would not have had time to capture the fleeting effects of light.

Manet and Degas often painted people who seemed alienated or depressed. Monet, Renoir and Pissarro were more interested in capturing beautiful moments and the changing effects of light on landscapes. Cassatt and Morisot, the female impressionists, usually painted figures of women and children.