The Impressionists and their circles have become the international superstars of Western painting. The works of Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh appear everywhere and are well loved by the public and academics alike.

But while their popularity is greater than ever, it is easy to forget the revolutionary nature of the Impressionists’ art. They broke away from tradition not only in their technique – by using touches of colour to capture movement and light – but in their subject matter too, depicting ordinary people at work and leisure.

In this series, Waldemar Januszczak takes us on a journey through the great art movement of the late nineteenth-century and explores some of the most beautiful paintings ever created.