Practice question · Multiple choice
Impressionism's outdoor painting depended on two industrial products: collapsible metal paint tubes and railway timetables. Why do those matter more than they sound?
Hints
- Ask how you carried oil paint before the tube, and how long the light lasts.
- The subject is a particular hour on a particular river. What does painting it require?
Show the answer
D. They made it practical to finish a canvas outdoors in one sitting
Why
Ground pigment in a bladder could not travel and studio work cannot catch a passing hour, so the tube and the train are preconditions for the subject itself. Renoir said flatly that without paint in tubes there would have been no Impressionism, the style's ambition was waiting on a manufacturing change.
Practise Realism and Impressionism
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More questions on Realism and Impressionism
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