A French Eyewear Company Wants You To See Impressionist Paintings Clearly

The short, quick brush strokes of impressionism were revolutionary when they were initially deployed, but let’s be honest–they also look kind of blurry. Glasses-wearers look at enough blurry stuff every day, and French eyewear company Keloptic has a novel way of showing how their product improves its consumers’ vision: By taking classic impressionistic paintings and clearing them up through their lenses in these new print ads.

The ads take Monet’s Rouen Cathedral, Van Gogh’s 1889 self-portrait, and Seurat’s Model from the Back and fixes the blurriness by positioning a portion of the paintings through the lens: Suddenly, Van Gogh’s fuzzy face is replaced by some HD-looking features. It’s a clever way for an eyeglass company to capture the importance of clear vision–even if it does essentially dismiss one of the 19th century’s most important art movements as a big blurry mistake.DS