The greatest Impressionists

Alfred Sisley

Alfred Sisley

From comfortable beginnings as the son of a successful English businessman in Paris, Alfred Sisley story is one of tragic decline and late success. After the crash of his father company, Sisley and his family were reduced to a state of penury which persisted almost to the end of his life when throat cancer killed him at the age of sixty. More...

Monet Self-portrait 1886

Claude Monet

The name of Claude Monet and Impressionism are nearly synonymous. It was after all, one of his paintings that gave the movement its title, and he was the most consistent, the most prolific and the most uncompromising of his generation. More...

Degas Autoportrait

Edgar Degas

Degas never painted 'en plein-air', preferring to make sketches of his subjects and use whatever means at his disposal including photography, to ensure the accuracy of his observation before working in the studio. Thus, until his later experiments with pastel and gouache, Degas had very little to do with the Impressionism of Monet, Renoir, or Manet. Despite his uncompromising refusal to expose the style of his Impressionist colleagues, degas was instrumental in the foundation of the 'Societe anonyme' and all the Impressionists exhibition except one. Degas pictures, Style and technique

Renoir Self Portrait at age 35

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The English writer George Moore, thought Renoir possessed a certain 'vulgarity', a feeling expressed though not of course explicitly, by Renoir himself, whose eventual fame sat uneasily on the ahead of a self-confessed artisan. More...

Camille Pissarro

Talented artists as diverse as Gauguin, Cassatt, and Cezanne held Camille Pissarro in the utmost reverence asa teacher and a man of integrity. His openness enabled him to transcend his anarchist convictions and get on with the likes of the extremely reactionary Degas and the innately conservative Renoir, ... more

Edouard Manet

Edouard Manet was the figurehead of a generation of artists who saw him as a champion of experimental and non-conformist art. As a friend of Baudelaire, he was at the very front of the artistic avant-garde, yet he remained personally conservative and eager to please. More...