Consider the painting attachted, Claude Monet’s famous painting, Impression, Sunrise, 1872. This is the painting that launched the name Impressionism, the movement Monet, Degas, Pissaro, Renoir, and many others belonged to. The critic Claude Leroy, who reviewed the show that the painting first appeared in, used it derogatorily to imply that these were not serious artists. His attempts at derision backfired, and Impressionism remains among the best-loved art movements of the 19th century.
The questions for discussion here are:
Why would Monet paint smokestacks and commercial boats? Why does the painting look like it was painted so fast? Why does Monet use such intense colors? What is he trying to say here about the world he is living in?