Impressionist art is a style of painting that emerged in the mid-to-late 1800s in France that emphasizes an artist's immediate impression of a moment or scene, usually communicated through the use of light and its reflection, short brushstrokes, and separation of colors. Impressionist painters, often used modern life as their subject matter and painted quickly and freely, capturing light and movement in a way that had not been tried before. In turning away from the fine finish and detail to which most artists of their day aspired, the impressionists aimed to capture the momentary sensory effect of a scene - the impression objects made on the eye in a fleeting instant. Although some of the most respected artists of the Western canon were part of the Impressionist movement, the term "Impressionist" was originally intended as a derogatory term, used by art critics who were flatly appalled at this new style of painting. In the mid-1800s, when the Impressionist movement was born, it was commonly accepted that "serious" artists blended their colours and minimized the appearance of brushstrokes to produce the "licked" surface preferred by the academic masters. Impressionism, in contrast, featured short, visible strokes dots, commas, smears, and blobs. The first piece of art to inspire the critical nickname "Impressionism" was Claude Monet's 1873 piece "Impression: Sunrise," a piece that was presented at the first exhibition in 1874. Conservative painter Joseph Vincent was quoted in a review in increasingly sarcastic ways, calling Monet's work "not as finished as wallpaper." To call someone an "Impressionist" in 1874 was an insult, meaning the painter had no skill and lacked the common sense to finish a painting before selling it.