What is impressionism? Impressiomism or impressionistic painting is by far my favourite style of art because it is right between the abstract and realism methods. See my other blogs “Art Style” and “That’s Too Good to Be True!” for more on those styles. Impressiomism isn’t completely realistic. It doesn’t look exactly like the source, nor should it, as this would be considered realistic painting. It can be interpreted more easily than the abstract technique because it is less haphazard and more intentional in creating comprehensive shapes, shadows, and lines. Impressionism is a free, relaxing, and unique style of art in comparison to realism but more tight and uniform then abstract art.