Impression, Sunrise

Movement: Impressionism This is the painting that named the movement. Monet painted the harbor of Le Havre at dawn in 1872 with quick, loose strokes: an orange sun, a few dark boats and a haze of blue fog, more a passing moment than a finished scene. When it was shown in Paris in 1874, the critic Louis Leroy mocked the show as an exhibition of "impressionists," and the insult stuck. Capturing light and atmosphere fast, rather than polishing detail, is what Impressionism is about. It is in the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. What came next: painters who started out with the Impressionists wanted more structure, symbolism and emotion than a passing glimpse could hold.