MUSIC: ESTAB AND UNDER

ANNCR: AND NOW, A VOA MILLENNIUM MOMENT - A LOOK AT A PERSON,
EVENT OR IDEA THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD DURING THE LAST
THOUSAND YEARS.

MUSIC: UP FOR BRIDGE AND UNDER

VOICE: IN NINETEENTH CENTURY FRANCE, A GROUP OF ARTISTS BEGAN
TO PAINT IN A REVOLUTIONARY STYLE THAT MARKED THE
BEGINNING OF MODERN ART --IMPRESSIONISM.

THE SUBJECTS THEY PAINTED WERE CONSIDERED UNWORTHY OF
THE CANVAS. CLAUDE MONET, CAMILLE PISSARO, PIERRE
AUGUSTE RENOIR, EDGAR DEGAS, AND OTHER ARTISTS WHO
ALIGNED THEMSELVES WITH THE IMPRESSIONISTS CHOSE TO
PAINT FROM NATURE AND CONTEMPORARY LIFE, NOT ALLEGORIES
AND HISTORICAL SUBJECTS.

ALTHOUGH NATURALISM WAS THE AIM OF IMPRESSIONISTS, THEIR
PAINTINGS DIDN'T APPEAR NATURAL TO NINETEENTH CENTURY
EYES. SEEKING TO CAPTURE IN PAINT HOW LIGHT AFFECTS THE
PERCEPTION OF COLOR, THEY USED MANY INDIVIDUAL BRUSH
STROKES OF VARYING COLORS. THE COMBINATIONS ASTOUNDED
CRITICS, ONE OF WHOM WROTE IN EIGHTEEN-SEVENTY-SIX:
"SOMEONE SHOULD TELL MONSIEUR PISSARRO THAT TREES ARE
NEVER VIOLET, THAT THE SKY IS NEVER THE COLOR OF FRESH
BUTTER, THAT NOWHERE ON EARTH ARE THINGS TO BE SEEN AS
HE PAINTS THEM."

THE IMPRESSIONISTS HAD A PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON ARTISTS
WHO FOLLOWED THEM, AND CHANGED THE WAY WE LOOK AT ART
TODAY. THEIR PAINTINGS, WHICH NOW SEEM QUITE NATURAL,
DRAW RECORD CROWDS AT MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS AND COMMAND THE
HIGHEST PRICES AT AUCTION.

MUSIC: UP FOR BRIDGE AND UNDER

ANNCR: LISTEN FOR MILLENNIUM MOMENTS, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY AT
THIS TIME, HERE ON VOA.

MUSIC: FADES