Page "Impressionism" Paragraph 5

Radicals in their time, early Impressionists violated the rules of academic painting.

They constructed their pictures from freely brushed colours that took precedence over lines and contours, following the example of painters such as Eugène Delacroix and J. M. W. Turner.

They also painted realistic scenes of modern life, and often painted outdoors.

Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes were usually painted in a studio.

The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting en plein air.

They portrayed overall visual effects instead of details, and used short " broken " brush strokes of mixed and pure unmixed colour — not blended smoothly or shaded, as was customary — to achieve an effect of intense colour vibration.