From the time of the Renaissance up until the invention of photography, the goals of many painters were to paint images that looked real and life-like. However, after the invention of photography, many artists became disillusioned in painting life-like images because what takes them days or even weeks to paint, will simply take a few hours for a picture to develop.
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Eventually, a wave of art movement called Impressionism appeared in Europe from 1867 to 1886 to counteract the invention of photography and its ability to create exact replicas of the world around us. Impressionist painters’ works basically look like actual paintings rather than replicas of the real world by bringing unmixed colors straight onto the canvas. Impressionists paint with small series of strokes in order to create an overall effect when viewed from far away. From close-up, the painting seems like a messy mixture of random colors; however, each step back the viewer takes creates a different experience, and eventually, once the viewer is standing far enough, the human eye will automatically mix those individual colored strokes together and a recognizable overall picture magically appears.
A century later, the desire to create realistic images with paint on canvas appeared once more. This new movement, photorealism, actually worked with the technology of photography by painting from photos. Photorealism artworks are actual paintings that resemble pictures taken from a camera. The lighting, color, and texture of the items or people depicted in the painting are so accurate that it often requires people to give a double-take before realizing the artwork is in fact a painting and not a photograph.
Impressionism and photorealism relate in that they both focus on being innovative and different from the dominant art movement before their time. They are not afraid to think differently from prior art styles and create their own movements in the art world. Both styles also have a strong focus on texture. Although both styles of paintings are directly affected by the invention of photography, the end results of the artworks are at opposite ends of the spectrum; impressionism revolves around painting sceneries and events with the idea of abstract colors and painterly strokes, while photorealism focuses more on the minute details of specific objects or people.
sources:
Pioch, Nicolas. "Impressionism." Ibiblio.org - Storytelling. WebMuseum, 19 June 2006. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/>
"Photorealism." Art Cyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine. Web. 16 Oct. 2010. <http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/photorealism.html>
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