French art movement of the late 19th century that, inspired by scientific knowledges about the physical compositions of colours, tried to render them in an exact as possible way. To this purpose the impressionists went into nature (plein-air-painting), to catch their subjects as they were. The surrounding light conditions let contours blur and the visual impression prevails (Atomization of the objective world).
This is a special form of the landscape painting. It contains the presentation of sea and coast. These pictures show ships, ports, sea battles, icebergs as well as coastal motifs like strands, beach chairs or breakwaters. Also animal pictures can be found in this category.