Naturalism vs. Impressionism: What's the Difference?

Naturalism takes its name from its subject: it broke away from the themes of academic art and chose nature instead. But Impressionists paint nature too, so why draw a line between the two? In one sentence: Naturalists paint nature realistically, while Impressionists paint nature as they see it.

To paint realistically means you already know what nature looks like. Apples are red, trees look like this; all of that was studied in the studio. So Naturalist painters sketched outdoors and then returned to the studio to finish the work, and their paintings were accepted at the Salon.

Impressionism is different. The painting keeps changing depending on the time of day and the light. What the painter faces takes on different colors in different light, so he paints what he sees. Take a red apple. A Naturalist already knows what an apple looks like, so he paints the lit side red and the shaded side dark red, the way he knows it to be. An Impressionist, depending on the hour and the light, might paint the apple yellow, blue or purple. That is why Impressionism lends itself to series: Monet's Water Lilies, Haystacks and Rouen Cathedral all show the same subject in many moods.

That is why the day Claude Monet, Renoir and Bazille set up their easels in the Forest of Fontainebleau and finished their paintings on the spot is considered the beginning of Impressionism. At the time, finishing a painting outdoors was still very rare. Finishing outdoors meant capturing the light of that moment with quick brushstrokes and completing the work on the spot. As a result the brushwork shows, and to people of the time the paintings looked unfinished. They weren't accepted at the Salon, but Impressionism remains beloved to this day.