1. A style or practice of painting in France which thrived from 1870 to 1900: The artistic approach of impressionism centers on depicting the effects of light on things instead of showing precise and clear detail.
2. A literary technique which makes use of fine aspects and mental associations: The school of impressionism among writers and poets centered on conveying feelings or experiences in their writings and an avoidance of portraying objective features of specific occurrences and things.
3. A style of music dating back to the 1800s and early 1900s: Compositions using the style of impressionism can best be associated with Debussy, whereby the harmonic effects are presented by using whole-tone scales, and are more important than having the structure and theme clearly defined.