In 1874 a group of painters who would soon come to be known as the Impressionists held their first exhibition at photographer Nadar's studio in Paris. Their canvases,executed in the open air and characterised by vigorous brush strokes and bright, vibrating colours,marked a genuine revolution in the Western painterly tradition that had its roots in the Renaissance. That new concept of colour was the first chapter in the history of modern art; without it,the course of art history would have taken a very different direction. This collection examines not only the work of the movement's main figures but also the mark they left on other great painters of the 19th and early 20th centuries, both in France and in the rest of Europe. Together, they provide a complete panorama of a decisive period in the art of our times.