Impressionism is an art movement that is best described as a reaction to the realism and romantic art movements and increased accessibility to photography. The movement shifted art toward different painting techniques, a lack of defined forms, and the expression of emotion rather than realistic imagery. The movement started as a reaction to the inability of artists to get their art shown at an exclusive exhibition that predominantly displayed paintings within the realism or romantic art movement styles. A small group of artists broke away from those exhibitions and teachers to create more personalized and emotional art. Without the expectations of other artists or government-funded exhibitions, impressionist artists were free to make more abstract, or implied kinds of art, which helped to curate the famous style of impressionism that people know today. Most impressionist artists used oil paint, which allowed for looser imagery and forms, as well as a more blended use of color. Different techniques and grounds were used as ways to experiment with expressions of the painting. Instead of using precise sharp lines, artists used looser and freer feeling paint strokes, which often allowed for the emotion of the painting to stand out. Impressionism paved the way for post-impressionism to adapt to the symbolism of a painting through style, color, and medium rather than direct imagery. This still has a major impact on graphic design. It shows designers that sometimes breaking the ‘rules’ set in place is exactly what a design needs. There is a lot of correlation between graphic design and impressionism, specifically the expression of subliminal meaning through methods such as style symbolism, color choice, abstract expressions, and alterations to photography.