The term "Impressionism" came about in 1874. A group of painters who called themselves an "association of painters, sculptors, and engravers" opened an art show in the old studio of the photographer named Nadar. Monet had a painting in the show which he entitled Impression, Rising Sun. An art critic named Chavrivari wrote an article about the exhibit which he entitled "Exhibition of the Impressionists." This name applied and ended up sticking with the artists. The style came about later; this type of art used colors lighter then the somber colors. The goal was to capture more the essence of nature and a sense of the outdoors. Artists would mix more than one color together and put it on their brushes. Light is more important in impressionistic styles.

Impressionism occurs when close up a painting appears all jumbled, but far away it forms a complete picture. The idea that everything is not always what it appears to be is in the Invisible Man. Invisible Man continually finds that his first impression is not always right. From the very beginning of the novel, Invisible Man finds that he is wrong about things. He believes that he had been invited to give his graduation speech to a group of prominent white men. When he arrives, he ends up getting blindfolded and being forced to fight other black men. Throughout the novel, Invisible Man's first impression of things is continually wrong.

by Kristin Fuller