The Great Outdoors

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Description

British art critic Waldemar Januszczak continues his investigation of the Impressionists by venturing outdoors to some of their most famous painting sites. Although Impressionist pictures often look sunny and relaxed, achieving that sense of tranquility was hard work. Scrambling over coastal rocks or trudging through wind, rain, and knee-deep snow, Januszczak shows how the perceived spontaneity of Impressionism is thoroughly misleading - even as he rediscovers its beauty in the French riverside locations that Monet loved to paint and the colorful retreats where Renoir captured the bonhomie of modern life. Viewers also learn about technical developments that spurred Impressionism onward - the invention of portable easels, the use of hog's hair in paint brushes, and the establishment of railways throughout France - while the Impressionist story deepens even further with the arrival of Paul Cezanne, whom many considered to be talentless but who took the movement in a startling new direction. A