Imagine I am the director of a new museum that was dedicated to 19th century art. I am in the process of building up a French Impressionism collection and have to choose between Morisot's Summer's Day or Renior's Bathers. As a director you want to choose the piece that best embodies the style and intent of French Impressionism. To come to a decision I would first try to understand what French Impressionism is all about and then see how the two pieces reflect that theme. I would end up picking the painting that best represents Impressionism and will help the people that come to the museum understand the concept and ideals behind it.
French Impressionism is a major movement that took place between 1867 and 1886 that affected paintings and moved on to music. These impressionist artists maintained a certain approach and technique that usually depicted upper middle class during their leisure time. Many artists specialized in paintings of the countryside but the subjects were usually rich city folk on a holiday. The impressionist works were usually rejected from the Salon so a group of 30 impressionist artists exhibited together in Paris. Two prominent artists were Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Berthe Morisot. .
Impressionism was an attempt to accurately and objectively record visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and color. As Impressionism progressed the artists loosened up their brush strokes known as "sketch aesthetics". Impressionism was not understood by the public or critics and they had a difficult time in selling their paintings. Impressionism did not stay the same throughout the years. The Impressionists changed with the times and painted with their own interpretations of what the style should be. Eventually most of the artists started heading in their own directions and by the late 1880's impressionist artists had evolved in to other forms. .
Berthe Morisot was the first woman to join the French impressionist painters circle.