Everything takes its roots somewhere in the past, including
art. Directions in painting changed along with the times, and the current trends are far from clear to everyone. But everything new is a well-forgotten old, and to understand the current painting, you do not need to know the history of art from ancient times, you just need to remember the painting of the XIX and XX centuries.
The middle of the XIX century is a time of change not only in history, but also in art. Everything that came before: classicism, romanticism, and even more so academicism - currents, limited by a certain framework. In France of the 50-60s, the official Salon set the trends in painting, but typical Salon art did not suit everyone, which explained the new trends that appeared. In the painting of that time there was a revolutionary explosion, which broke with centuries-old traditions and foundations. And one of the epicenters was Paris, where in the spring of 1874 young painters, including Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, Renoir and Cézan, organized their own exhibition. The works presented there were completely different from the salons. Artists used a different method - reflexes, shadows and light were transmitted with pure colors, individual strokes, the shape of each object seemed to dissolve in an air-light medium. No other direction in painting did not know such methods. These effects helped to maximize express your impressions of ever-changing things, nature, people. One journalist called the group "Impressionists", thereby he wanted to show his disregard for young artists. But they adopted this term, and it eventually took root and went into active use, losing its negative meaning. So impressionism appeared, unlike all other areas in 19th-century painting.
At first, the reaction to innovation was more than hostile. Nobody wanted to buy too bold and new painting, and they were afraid, because all the critics did not take the Impressionists seriously, they laughed at them. Many said that the impressionist artists wanted to achieve quick fame, they were not satisfied with a sharp break with conservatism and academism, as well as an unfinished and "sloppy" type of work. But even hunger and poverty could not force artists to abandon their beliefs, and they persisted until their painting was finally recognized. But it took too long to wait for recognition, some impressionist artists were no longer alive.
As a result, the flow that arose in Paris in the 60s was of great importance for the development of world art of the 19th and 20th centuries. After all, future trends in painting were inspired precisely by impressionism. Each subsequent style appeared in search of a new one. Post-impressionism was born by the same impressionists who decided that their method was limited: deep and multi-valued symbolism was a response to painting that “lost its meaning”, and modernity even calls for a new name. Of course, since 1874, a lot of changes have occurred in art, but all the modern trends in painting are somehow repelled by the fleeting Parisian impression.