First Impressions

First impressions

3 June

Paris, France

As a （［尺寸］巨大的，［程度］极大的） art fan, I knew （准确地） what I was （盼望） most about my trip to Paris: visiting the Musée d'Orsay. （收藏，安置） in an old （铁路） building, this world-famous art museum （展览会以…为重点；以…为特色） some of  （最著名的）paintings from the Impressionist movement of the 19th century.

As I （闲逛） through the Impressionist （画廊）, I （欣赏） （杰作） like The Ballet Class and The Card Players. Even though I had （欣赏） them hundreds of times on my computer （屏幕）, nothing could have  （使做好准备）me for the wonder I felt when I finally （看见） the real thing. （尽管） it was hard to pick a favourite painting out of so many （令人惊奇的） works, the artists who  （给某人留下最深的印象）me were two of the greatest Impressionist painters, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

I could see from Monet's works that he was greatly （启发） by nature. In the last three （十年）of his life he painted （主要的地，大多地） （景色） from his garden. One of these scenes is （展示） in the famous piece Blue Water Lilies, which I studied for quite a while in the gallery. I couldn't believe it when I heard he did around 250 paintings of the same water lily （池塘）, all in different colours and （风格）. It is amazing that every time Monet studied this （简单的） scene, he brought the pond's beauty to the  canvas in a （独特的） way.

Renoir, I noticed, （选择） to （v.画） scenes of （日常生活）. For me, the most interesting of his paintings is his 1876 masterpiece Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette,which shows life in a busy neighbourhood of Paris on a Sunday afternoon. When I saw it up close, I was （被…打动，把…迷住） by the small areas of light across the painting, and the way the soft （边缘） of the （绘画中的人物） seemed to （混合） together.There's so much going on,but so little clear （细节）. This （效果） makes the （活泼的） movement of the dance almost jump out at the （观看者）.

Although the paintings had very different （背景）, it was their （相似点） that stayed with me long after I left the Musée d'Orsay—similarities which can be seen throughout the Impressionists paintings. Monet and Renoir,along with other（志趣相投的） artists, （寻找） （自由） from the rules of the old style. Everyday subject matter was the main focus of their works, （相对于） the history paintings that had traditionally （主宰，支配） European art. They （运用） free （笔法，画风） and used colours to show the effect of light on things, creating paintings that were far less （现实的） than the works that came before. To me, these （技艺，技巧） are the （本质） the Impressionist view of art. Impressionist artists did not try to paint every detail in a scene—just a （简洁的） “impression" they had at that moment,burning with （鲜明的） colours and light, before it （消失）.

The Impressionists' （观点） inspired a whole new （一代人） of Post-Impressionist painters such as Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, whose works are also （展示） at the Musée d'Orsay. It is also （值得的，应得的） of note that Post-Impressionist painters were not the only ones to be （v.影响） by Impressionism—the movement has had a （持久的，永恒的） （n.影响） on modern art, （鼓励） artists to look at the world from an （完全地） new （观点）. It certainly left a lasting impression on me too!

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