Impressionists. Diaries and Letters

The most vivid and significant phenomenon in French painting of the late third of the 19th century was Impressionism. The representatives of this movement, trying to oppose themselves to classical art, sought their own paths and forms of creative expression.... The innovations and ideas of this direction completely changed the artistic perception of art in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The history of studying Impressionism has spanned more than a century. The book "Archives of Impressionism," published in 1939 by the renowned Italian art historian Lionello Venturi, is a compilation of invaluable documents - letters from the Impressionist artists addressed to Paul Durand-Ruel - their constant dealer and patron, whose biography is also included in the book. The most numerous letters are from the main representatives of the group - Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro. Regular correspondence began in the early 1880s and continued until the death of the artists. These letters illuminate various aspects of the artists' lives and activities: views on art, projects for new exhibitions and works, negotiations with collectors, relationships among the artists themselves, descriptions of new localities visited in search of new motifs, reports on domestic woes and joys, and experienced material difficulties. The vivid individuality of the authors is clearly manifested in the letters: the life-affirming calmness of Renoir, the quiet delicacy of Pissarro, the lively temperament of Monet. It is in this vibrant fabric, woven from everyday events, that a clear and authentic picture of the life and creativity of remarkable painters emerges, who endured a difficult path in the struggle for new art.