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In the late 19th century, the Impressionists
defied academic tradition in French art with their emphasis on
modern subjects, sketchlike technique, and practice of painting
in the open air with pure, high-keyed
color. In the wake of the Impressionist revolution, a new generation
of artists
pushed the basic pictorial components of color, line, and composition
into new psychological and formal territories, influencing many
abstract artists of the early 20th century. Thanks to such pioneering
donors as Mrs. Potter Palmer
and Frederic Clay Bartlett,
the Art Institute of Chicago houses one of the largest and most
significant collections of Impressionist and Postimpressionist art in the world.
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