On Impressionism
Deborah Levy contributes to the Royal Academy of Art's RA Magazine with a piece on "The enduring appeal of Impressionism."
“Is it true that we are human clay onto which impressions of our world are pressed? I think it is. The noun ‘impression’ derives from the Latin imprimere, meaning to ‘press into or upon’, or ‘stamp’. We mostly tend to trust our first impressions of people and place. When we meet a stranger, we find that we are drawn to them, or even instantly love them, or are repelled and for some reason loathe them. The simultaneous flow of first impressions are stamped within us. Even if we change our mind, which is always a hopeful action (an open mind being more inspiring than a closed one), it is often the first impression that lingers in our memory.”