What were the major innovations of the Impressionists in painting style and subject matter?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: The ideal answer should include three examples from the chapter, along with these points:
1. The Impressionists captured the transitory moment (le temps, alluding to time, weather, and the age) by using sketchy brushstrokes that seem unfinished, as in Monet's Impression—Sunrise.
2. They captured the fleeting effects of light by applying paint in small, quick stokes of color, as in Impression—Sunrise or Monet's Carnival on the Boulevard des Capucines.
3. They depicted scenes of pleasurable leisure activities, rather than social commentaries, as in Renoir's Bal du Moulin de la Galette and Berthe Morisot's Reading.
4. Artists such as Monet combined two or more pigments on a brush and allowed them to blend on the canvas; he used a wet-on-wet technique, and he used synthetic paints with which he could paint intense hues.