In the last quarter of the 19th century Impressionism emerged on the art scene in Paris like a burst of colour. Art in France had become very academic, painting classical scenes from mythology and the Bible in somber hues. The portraits were only of eminent people, the nobility or upper class. Even the landscapes were often painted in-doors.

The impressionists went outside the studio into the countryside, and painted nature and scenes from everyday life and portraits of ordinary people. They used freedom of colour and brushwork to create the effects they wanted to. The art movement was influenced by the richness of colour and effects and freedom of form of earlier artists like Delacroix and Turner. The initial impressionist artists were, inter alia, Corot and Manet, thereafter there are Monet, Pissaro, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne and others. Whistler in America and other European artists were also influenced by impressionistic techniques.

Unlike the realists who are careful about molding and shading the impressionists did not try to hide their brush strokes, indeed the brush work added to the vibrancy of the paintings and enabled them to capture effects of light and colour that meticulous realism cannot encompass. They were badly criticized in their time, but this was the style that led the way to the future of painting. The fact is when we see a beautiful scene in nature it is not only a visual experience. We feel the sunlight; the sun in winter looks different; evening or morning has its own charm; rainy or snowy weather affects us separately and sunset, sunrise and moonrise have a beauty of their own. These artists actually captured these impressions on their canvases. The title of impressionism was based on a painting by Monet called ‘Impression: sunrise’. It was coigned by a critic in a derogatory sense.

This is of course only a small example of the vast scope of this art. Basically there was stress on the aspect that paintings should be appealing and beautiful and not necessarily impressive and classical. Thus, the colours that the impressionists created were especially beautiful. In this they were also influenced by Japanese tapestry art which uses bright colours heightened by the composition. With this movement, suddenly vibrant and subtle, translucent and radiant, primary and evocative mixed hues and tints opened a new world of beauty in painting closer to nature and people.

We of PASHA were deeply inspired by the impressionists; and of course also other art movements and forms, but the brilliance and beauty of the colours of impressionism affected us greatly. We on our part try to create beauty in fabrics. People usually think of weavers as artisans, but there is a very thin line between artisans and artists and often they overlap. And in our passion to create beauty on the loom we may well consider ourselves as artists in our own right.

We noticed that the normal colours of commoner dyes looked finer and deeper on Platinum because of its high quality. Therefore in our endeavor for continuously improving our product we took inspiration from the colours of the impressionists to present Platinum in a pallete of more artistic and vibrant colours. These are not ordinary colours. They are impressionistic colours. We have printed a booklet suitable in its aesthetic taste to such a high aspiration. It is a chronicle of this sincere artistic effort of ours. Our range of Platinum is our impressionistic revolution and we dedicate it as a tribute to the genius of those artists.