The book by famous French art historians, curators of the collections of the Louvre and the Eugene Delacroix Museum gives a wide panorama of European fine art of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The way of thinking, artistic quest and creative passion of the French impressionists, their predecessors and followers in other countries become closer and more understandable thanks to the extensive factual material provided by the authors. Extracts from articles by journalists, critics and collectors - contemporaries of the Impressionists - recreate the atmosphere of the intense struggle of young artists for new art.