With its lively narrative and profuse illustrations, this volume captures the visual riches of a remarkable era. Born in controversy, christened in scorn by a sarcastic critic, and developed amid a continuing struggle for recognition and solvency, French Impressionism finally emerged as a powerful and immensely popular artistic movement whose appeal remains undiminished today. "The Great Book of French Impressionism" celebrates the richness and exuberance of the Impressionists world - a world of light and color, of sunlit fields and shimmering waterscapes, of bustling city views and intimate domestic scenes. This handsomely designed Tiny Folio packs over 200 full-color illustrations, faithfully capturing the subtle nuances of light and keen perception that make French Impressionist painting unique. The text traces the development of Impressionism from its roots in landscape and Realist painting through its focus on modern urban life to its ultimate goal: to fix on canvas the fleeting moods and effects of nature in a world that stands still for no one. The works of the major Impressionists and Post Impressionists, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat, and Cézanne, are featured and show how they influenced others in the movement, ultimately giving rise to the new art of the twentieth century.