Final answer:
Impressionists like Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir created their paintings using techniques such as 'en plein air' outdoor painting, utilization of vibrant synthetic pigments, and distinctive brushstrokes to capture light and color. They focused on the overall visual effects rather than on detailed realism, which allowed for more vibrant and optical blending of colors.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the second half of the 19th century, the Impressionism movement marked a significant shift in artistic methods. The innovative painters of this movement, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and others, developed new techniques and ideas that would cement their status in art history. These artists often painted en plein air, a practice of painting outdoors to capture the essence of natural light and its effects on the landscape at a particular moment. They applied a variety of brushstrokes – long or short, wide or narrow – to create lines, forms, and a sense of movement. Their use of vibrant, often unmixed color, created contours through contrasting shades rather than through definitive lines.
Monet, Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, who shared a passion for landscape and contemporary life, pioneered this approach in the 1860s. They focused on capturing modern life and natural settings directly from nature, employing the newly available synthetic pigments, which allowed for a lighter and brighter manner of painting. Employing short, 'broken' brush strokes, they created a visual vibrancy within their works, seeking to portray the overall visual effects rather than detailed realism. This technique allowed the colors to blend optically from a distance, thus, capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. Another discovery by Monet and Renoir was that shadows were not just black or brown; the color of a shadow was actually influenced by the surrounding light and reflections.
Over time, these techniques continued to evolve, with artists increasingly focusing on the interplay of light and color. Through freely applied brushstrokes and intense observation of their environments, Impressionists provided an impression of the view on canvas – an innovative break from the smoothly blended details that characterized earlier painting styles. The Impressionist movement laid the groundwork for various subsequent artistic styles and remains influential to this day.