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Impressionism got its name from a joke. In April 1874 the critic Louis Leroy mocked an exhibition in Paris by Monet and his friends, seized on the title of Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise and called the group “the Impressionists”. By 1877 the artists were using the name themselves.

Paris, 1874

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The exhibition opened in April 1874 in the former studio of the photographer Nadar. About thirty artists took part, among them Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Sisley, Morisot and Cézanne, who had formed their own society to show their work outside the Salon, the official, state-backed annual exhibition. Monet's picture shows the harbour of Le Havre, his home town, at sunrise in quick, loose strokes. Asked for a title for the catalogue, he later recalled, he felt it could hardly pass for a view of Le Havre and told them to put down “Impression”. Leroy, writing in the humorous paper Le Charivari, joked that half-made wallpaper looked more finished. The group held eight exhibitions up to 1886. In 2014 astronomers used the sun's position and tide tables to date the scene to the morning of 13 November 1872.

Türkçe oku
İzlenimcilik (empresyonizm) adını bir alaydan aldı. Eleştirmen Louis Leroy, Nisan 1874'te Monet ve arkadaşlarının Paris'teki sergisiyle dalga geçerken Monet'nin İzlenim: Gün Doğumu tablosunun adından yola çıktı ve gruba “İzlenimciler” dedi. 1877'ye gelindiğinde sanatçılar bu adı kendileri de kullanıyordu.
Paris, 1874

Sergi Nisan 1874'te fotoğrafçı Nadar'ın eski atölyesinde açıldı. Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Sisley, Morisot ve Cézanne'ın da aralarında bulunduğu yaklaşık otuz sanatçı katıldı. Bu sanatçılar, eserlerini devletin desteklediği yıllık resmî sergi Salon'un dışında gösterebilmek için kendi derneklerini kurmuştu. Monet'nin tablosu, memleketi Le Havre'ın limanını gün doğarken hızlı ve serbest fırça darbeleriyle gösterir. Monet'nin sonradan anlattığına göre, katalog için bir ad istendiğinde tablonun bir Le Havre manzarası diye geçemeyeceğini düşünmüş ve “İzlenim yazın” demişti. Mizah gazetesi Le Charivari'de yazan Leroy ise yarım kalmış bir duvar kâğıdının bile bu deniz manzarasından daha bitmiş göründüğünü söyleyerek alay etti. Grup 1886'ya kadar sekiz sergi açtı. 2014'te gökbilimciler güneşin konumundan ve gelgit çizelgelerinden yola çıkarak manzaranın 13 Kasım 1872 sabahına ait olduğunu hesapladı.

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