No other movement has had as great an impact on art in the last 200 years, nor been as popular with museumgoers, as the Impressionists. This breathtaking volume—filled with fabulous facsimile artifacts, including letters, reviews, posters, preliminary sketches, palette lists, and more—looks at the journey these great painters endured to establish themselves in the art world. It places the art in its historical context, analyzes the predominant techniques, focuses on the major painters and on the female Impressionists, explains how their work influenced later generations, and even reveals the artists' loves and personal battles.