About this Book Around 1860, a group of young painters in search of new approaches to art banded together informally in France. They formed the nucleus of a movement which was destined to set the world of painting ablaze with hitherto unknown ranges of colour and light. Their affirmation of the primacy of light brought in its wake new techniques, a new language—simpler, more direct, more immediate, more meaningful. Today we still stand in awe before their genius. François Mathey makes in this volume a major contribution toward recreating the artistic atmosphere of nineteenth-century France. He has also written concise biographies of all the painters who participated in the movement—the giants as well as those of lesser fame—and the detailed captions which accompany the reproductions constitute in themselves an important critical survey of Impressionism. Above all the full creative force of Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Degas—and of many more—is displayed in the colour plates and the black and white plates include many little-known sketches, drawings and studies. FRANÇOIS MATHEY was born in France in 1917. He is Chief Inspector of the Historical Monuments of France and Curator of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. He is also a well-known art critic and has written books on various aspects of the arts including Olympia; Manet; Seven Young Painters; French Stained Glass and The Châteaux of France.

François Mathey

The World of the Impressionists