impressionism

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

Impressionism
    n 1: a school of late 19th century French painters who pictured
         appearances by strokes of unmixed colors to give the
         impression of reflected light

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Impressionism \Im*pres"sion*ism\, n. [F. impressionnisme.] (Fine
   Arts)
   The theory or method of suggesting an effect or impression
   without elaboration of the details; -- a disignation of a
   recent fashion in painting and etching.
   [1913 Webster]