Barbizon Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in Jul)

The Origin of Impressionism: The Golden Phoenix in Barbizon Village

The Origin of Impressionism: The Golden Phoenix in Barbizon Village In the 1830s, a group of young painters spontaneously gathered in the Barbizon village on the outskirts of Paris to paint from life. There are different versions of the story about this move. Romantics say that there were forests and rivers, fields and flowers; for painters, painting outdoors was much more interesting than painting portraits in the studio or imagining landscapes, thus forming a French-style landscape painting school. Pragmatists, however, commented that it was because these young people were poor and could not afford to live in high-rent areas like Paris, so they had to come to this remote place without churches, post offices, or shops to continue their creations, thus forming French Realist art. Whatever the reason, it was like a golden phoenix flying out of a chicken coop. This small place nurtured great artists like Rousseau, Corot, and Millet, and gave birth to the Impressionist style of painting.