Impressionism Overview

Impressionism was a 19th century art movement named after, Impression, Sunrise, a piece by, Claude Monet.

Characteristics of Impressionism are:
Visible brush strokes
Open Composition
Emphasis on light and its changing qualities (usually in order to capture the passing of time)
Ordinary subject matter
Movement
[Photographs inspired paintings that captured an overall moment in time, whereas earlier works focused on a main idea and everything else in the piece was completely secondary.]

Artists attempted to capture the essence or true-life reaction a human has to seeing an object as opposed to the solid image of it. This is indicated by the brush stroke patterns, attention to movement and attention to what visually captivates the eye (color, light, etc.)
Artists began to take their work outside into the real world as opposed to sitting in their studios, termed plein-air (outdoors) painting.

Impressionism was not widely accepted in its beginning in that it defied the norm. The younger undercurrent of artists behind the impressionistic movement included: “A core group of young realists, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, who had studied under Charles Gleyre, became friends and often painted together. They soon were joined by Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, and Armand Guillaumin” (Wikipedia). These artists only received moderate financial rewards for the work, but did gain more public acceptance in proceeding time.