Impressionism developed along three diverging lines:
A. Superficial Impressionism—Monet.
B. Realistic Impressionism—Manet.
C. Substantial Impressionism—Cézanne.
A. Superficial—the painting of light effects, the impressionism of Monet, culminated in the extreme refinements of the pointillists, the Neo-Impressionists, Seurat and Signac.
In superficial Impressionism the last word seems to have been said for the time being. Any number of delightful pictures—light effects—are being painted, and will continue to be painted, but the early enthusiasm has largely subsided.
Superficial Impressionism leads naturally to the painting of pure color effects—color music, orphism, compositional painting. After the last word in the observation of light effects Post-Impressionistic attempts to create pure color effects, irrespective of natural—that is a logical reaction.
B. Realistic Impressionism penetrates a little deeper. While Monet and his followers, Signac and Seurat, dealt more and more with the play of light on the surface of things, Manet and his followers painted closer to the heart of things.
While Monet was content to paint a hay stack twenty times in as many different lights, Manet preferred a touch of life and character in his pictures. While he was first and last a painter, he was not so absorbed in securing purely technical effects as to be wholly blind to the human element, hence his wonderful portraits, his bullfights, his glimpses of city life—pictures big in more senses than one.