Third was a turning away from the preoccupation of photographic realism and sharp outlines that allowed the painters to deal more directly with the problems of light and color. For his 1887 entry in the annual Prix de Rome competition, Debussy submitted a little work called Printemps . They warned Debussy to be on his guard, lest the truth of art be forgotten by this fleeting experimentation. Obviously, their warning went unheeded. The elements that made his music Impressionist were merely recast from the rules for Impressionism in the plastic arts, with the only change being the method of delivery the ear instead of the eye.
Impressionist music creates color through a new use of harmonies.
They kept the Romantic practice of descriptive titles, but the Impressionist composers differed markedly from the Romantics. The Impressionist sound is subtle, but still insubordinate. The Impressionist sound is also evocative, conjuring up the immediate feeling. Impressionist music, like its counterpart in painting, seemed to blur the lines. Although Impressionism infected the style of other French composers, such as Ravel, other countries can stake a claim in this movement.