Claude Monet was one of the founders and representatives of French Impressionist paintings. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his masterpiece: Impression, Sunrise which was painted in 1872. The following is a brief analysis of this painting.
"Impression, Sunrise" is a landscape of Le Havre. It faithfully depicted the visual impression of the light and colors at the sunrise of the French port city to the artist. Monet explained the title later: “Landscape is nothing but an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label that was given us, by the way because of me. I had sent a thing done in Le Havre, from my window, sun in the mist and a few masts of boats sticking up in the foreground…They asked me for a title for the catalogue, it couldn’t really be taken for a view of Le Havre, and I said: ‘Put Impression.’” Because it broke through the shackles of traditional painting, art critic Louis Leroy coined the term “Impressionism” which he intended as disparagement but which the Impressionists appropriated for themselves. Louis Leroy wrote:”Impression – I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it…and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.”
In the second half of the 19th century, optical theory changed the artists’ traditional concept on the natural color, thus they began a new exploration to the external surface of the art. "Sunrise, impression" depicts the morning fog shrouded scene of the port at sunrise. By the composition use of purple, reddish, blue-gray, and orange and other colors, a vibrant red sun dragging a ray orange and yellow light from the waves, slowly arises. The sea, the sky and the scenery, in a relaxed style, seem to blend into each other. The three boats which are not very far off shore gradually become blurred in the mist. The distant buildings, ports, cranes, ships, mast, etc. are also looming in the morning twilight ... All of these is the scene that the painter viewed from a window. He depicted a misty scene by messy and blending brush strokes. This is absolutely a betrayal to the art from the academic artists’ view. The painting is a instant visual experience and lively expresses the painter’s moods. The academic art respected the careful and clear outline, rigid and dull color. Compared to the academic art, this painting is a bold rebellion, which cause the official opposition.
He also painted another painting titled “Sunset” at the same place. When sent to the first Impressionist exhibition, the two pictures are both without a title. A journalist made a crack that Monet's paintings are "the denial of beauty and truth, only a perception." So Monet entitled the painting "Impression, Sunrise." As a seascape painting, all the scenery is enshrouded in thin gray tone, the brush strokes of it are very random and chaotic, creating the hazy effect. At sunrise, the sea was covered with mist, and the water reflected radiance of the sky and sun. The landscape was dim and misty, giving people a momentary and dreamy quality about it.