The term 'impressionism' actually originated from one of Monet's paintings called Impression, Sunrise. ... Claude Monet's style in Impression, Sunrise is actually quite different than his usual style, which rather featured small brushstrokes creating images full of color and light. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movement. Impression, Sunrise depicts the port of Le Havre, Monet's hometown. It is now displayed at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. Ironically, Impression, Sunrise is not typical of Monet's work, although it does carry elements of his normal style. The horizon has disappeared and the water, sky, and reflections have all merged together. The buildings and ships in the background are only vague shapes and the red sun dominates the painting. A painting by Claude Monet called Impression: Sunrise caught the impression; they did not want to portray a landscape but the sensation of a landscape. He titled his review "The Impressionists," the name stuck. Impression, Sunrise depicts the port of Le Havre, Monet's hometown. It is now displayed at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. Oscar-Claude Monet (UK: /ˈmɒneɪ/, US: /moʊˈneɪ/,[1][2] French: [klod mɔnɛ]; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter, a founder of French Impressionist painting and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein air landscape painting.[3][4] The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874 in the first of the independent exhibitions mounted by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon de Paris. Monet's ambition of documenting the French countryside led him to adopt a method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons.[6] From 1883, Monet lived in Giverny, where he purchased a house and property and began a vast landscaping project which included lily ponds that would become the subjects of his best-known works. He began painting the water lilies in 1899, first in vertical views with a Japanese bridge as a central feature and later in the series of large-scale paintings that was to occupy him continuously for the next 20 years of his life. Impression: Sunrise shares its name with the movement that Monet was the leader of and it makes it one of his most important early works. It sparked an art movement whose legacy would continue on for decades to come. ... It is believed the Monet no doubt completed Impression: Sunrise in one sitting.
