What was the importance of Impressionism?
& what influence did it have on other artists and movements, and on the future of visual arts ?
please help , im desperate !
first helpful answer gets 10 points 
thank you in advance !
This site focuses exclusively on why Impressionism was significant:
http://www.artist-perspectives.com/articles/impressionism.htm
An excerpt:
"One can draw a direct line from the Impressionists, through the Post-Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, to the Fauves, the Cubists, the Symbolists, and ultimately to Abstract Expressionists. Today every “ism” we can think of is another manifestation of the phenomenon begun by the Impressionists, the phenomenon of individual expression."
An excerpt from this site:
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/impressionism.htm#impact
"Impressionism is probably the best-loved as well as the single most identifiable style in the history of Western art. Although not as overtly revolutionery as modern art movements such as Cubism, anti-art Dada, or Surrealism, its impact on Modern Art was enormous. It set entirely new standards for how artists "saw" and depicted nature – influencing generations of painters including numerous artistic communes, at Grez-Sur-Loing, Pont-Aven, and Concarneau – and paved the way for the new international style of Expressionism. It continues to exert a significant influence on painting, even today."
EDIT (More than three days after the question was posted with no Best Answer selected): As the first person to answer this question, I have to say that I’ve noticed that most of the time when someone says in their question that they will give 10 points that those are the people that almost never select a Best Answer even when they’ve been given good answers. It’s at the point where anytime I see that "enticement" being offered I automatically assume s/he is lying. With this question about to go into voting, clearly yerface falls into this category. And I’m just adding this in case yerface ever comes back and reads this again.
April 8th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
This site focuses exclusively on why Impressionism was significant:
http://www.artist-perspectives.com/articles/impressionism.htm
An excerpt:
"One can draw a direct line from the Impressionists, through the Post-Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, to the Fauves, the Cubists, the Symbolists, and ultimately to Abstract Expressionists. Today every “ism” we can think of is another manifestation of the phenomenon begun by the Impressionists, the phenomenon of individual expression."
An excerpt from this site:
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/impressionism.htm#impact
"Impressionism is probably the best-loved as well as the single most identifiable style in the history of Western art. Although not as overtly revolutionery as modern art movements such as Cubism, anti-art Dada, or Surrealism, its impact on Modern Art was enormous. It set entirely new standards for how artists "saw" and depicted nature – influencing generations of painters including numerous artistic communes, at Grez-Sur-Loing, Pont-Aven, and Concarneau – and paved the way for the new international style of Expressionism. It continues to exert a significant influence on painting, even today."
EDIT (More than three days after the question was posted with no Best Answer selected): As the first person to answer this question, I have to say that I’ve noticed that most of the time when someone says in their question that they will give 10 points that those are the people that almost never select a Best Answer even when they’ve been given good answers. It’s at the point where anytime I see that "enticement" being offered I automatically assume s/he is lying. With this question about to go into voting, clearly yerface falls into this category. And I’m just adding this in case yerface ever comes back and reads this again.
References :
April 8th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Impressionism was the first movement in painting that was abstract. SHortly before this movement, the camera was invented. The camera put traditional painting on its butt because it’s main identity before that was biblical illustrations/ commissions from the church (to inform the illiterate masses). Photography made painting obsolete in this respect and painting needed a new identity. Impressionism provided this. Abstraction started here and pretty much every art movement has been effected by this since.
References :