"Monet gets his place in the art timeline because of his leading role in the Impressionist art movement, and through the enduring appeal of his artistic style. Looking at this painting, done early in his career, it may not seem one of Monet's best paintings, but the big deal about it is that it was the painting that gave Impressionism its name.
Monet exhibited the painting he titled Impression: Sunrise in what we now call the First Impressionist Exhibition, in Paris. Monet and a group of about 30 other artists, frustrated by restrictions and politics of the official annual art salon, had decided to hold their own independent exhibition, an unusual thing to do at the time. They called themselves the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc (Société Anonyme des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs, etc.) and included artists who are now world famous such as Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Morisot, and Cézanne."
Excerpt from The Painting by Monet That Gave Impressionism its Name
By Marion Boddy-Evans
http://painting.about.com/od/famouspainters/ss/monet-impression-sunrise-painting.htm
Monet exhibited the painting he titled Impression: Sunrise in what we now call the First Impressionist Exhibition, in Paris. Monet and a group of about 30 other artists, frustrated by restrictions and politics of the official annual art salon, had decided to hold their own independent exhibition, an unusual thing to do at the time. They called themselves the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc (Société Anonyme des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs, etc.) and included artists who are now world famous such as Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Morisot, and Cézanne."
Excerpt from The Painting by Monet That Gave Impressionism its Name
By Marion Boddy-Evans
http://painting.about.com/od/famouspainters/ss/monet-impression-sunrise-painting.htm