<P> The central figures in the development of Impressionism in France, listed alphabetically, were: </P> <Ul> <Li> Frédéric Bazille (who only posthumously participated in the Impressionist exhibitions) (1841--1870) </Li> <Li> Gustave Caillebotte (who, younger than the others, joined forces with them in the mid-1870s) (1848--1894) </Li> <Li> Mary Cassatt (American - born, she lived in Paris and participated in four Impressionist exhibitions) (1844--1926) </Li> <Li> Paul Cézanne (although he later broke away from the Impressionists) (1839--1906) </Li> <Li> Edgar Degas (who despised the term Impressionist) (1834--1917) </Li> <Li> Armand Guillaumin (1841--1927) </Li> <Li> Édouard Manet (who did not participate in any of the Impressionist exhibitions) (1832--1883) </Li> <Li> Claude Monet (the most prolific of the Impressionists and the one who embodies their aesthetic most obviously) (1840--1926) </Li> <Li> Berthe Morisot (who participated in all Impressionist exhibitions except in 1879) (1841--1895) </Li> <Li> Camille Pissarro (1830--1903) </Li> <Li> Pierre - Auguste Renoir (who participated in Impressionist exhibitions in 1874, 1876, 1877 and 1882) (1841--1919) </Li> <Li> Alfred Sisley (1839--1899) </Li> </Ul> <Li> Frédéric Bazille (who only posthumously participated in the Impressionist exhibitions) (1841--1870) </Li> <Li> Gustave Caillebotte (who, younger than the others, joined forces with them in the mid-1870s) (1848--1894) </Li>

The impressionist paintings were characterized by all of the following except