Claude Monet painted Impression, Sunrise in 1872.
Monet created the painting during a stay in Le Havre, the Normandy port where he had spent much of his youth. It shows the harbor at sunrise, with boats, smoke, and industrial structures reduced to loose touches of color. Monet dated the work 1872, although some catalogues have discussed whether it may have been completed in early 1873.
The painting was displayed at the independent exhibition held in Paris in 1874. Critic Louis Leroy used the title’s word “impression” mockingly when describing the artists in the show, but the label soon became associated with the movement. A common mix-up is to give 1874 as the painting’s creation year; that is the year of its exhibition, not the date Monet put on the canvas.