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Although not initially fond of the European ‘modern trend’ of French Impressionism, American painters began to be influenced by the movement’s focus on ‘modern life’, bright color palette and vibrant brushwork. The beauty of American life and leisure at the end of the 19th C became a focal point for many American painters who adopted brighter palettes and loose brushstrokes so that they might capture the natural world and/or urban energy. In so doing, they broke with traditional expectations to usher in the first popular, modern art movement in America. The resultant art colonies played a critical role in the development of the American Impressionist Movement - groups of artists lived and worked together and shared a common aesthetic vision. Some of the most important American Impressionist artists gathered at nearby Cos Cob and Old Lyme Connecticut, New Hope Pennsylvania, and in Boston Massachusetts. Please join us as we explore the development of the American Impressionist artist’s movement and their resultant art colonies - where, as a group of artists with shared ideals, painted the paintings that became the basis of many American industrialist’s private art collections.