Debussy and Impressionism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Debussy and Impressionism - Research Paper Example The paper "Debussy and Impressionism" explores Debussy's art and his influence of impressionism movement. Yet in a letter to his friend Arthur Hartmann he writes, â€Å"I became lost in my impressions, dazed in my emotions†. In denying the influence of impressionism on his work Debussy may have been reacting to early negative critical reviews of the impressionist movement in general. Today, perhaps, he might have been pleased to be included. Using two works, Monet’s Impression, Sunrise and Debussy’s Printemps, this essay explores the relationship between the two and offers evidence to support the notion that Debussy, despite protestations to the contrary, was indeed an impressionist. The Impressionism period covers approximately two decades from the late 1860s through the 1880s. The movement, originating in France in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, developed in response to the French Academy of Fine Arts and its narrow, overbearing and restrictive rul es as to what did or did not constitute art. A group of painters who became known as the Impressionists [not a compliment in those days] felt strongly about securing independence from these restrictive standards and the dictates of its annual official art exhibition, The Salon. The term impressionist was first used by French art critic Louis Leroy in 1874 in response to Monet's painting Impression, that will play an intrinsic role in the comparisons between Debussy as an impressionist and the artistic impressionists of the time.