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Napoleon Bonaparte was indirectly responsible for the impressionist movement in painting. During his conquests, Napoleon was among the first military leaders to recognize the importance of "winning the hearts and minds" of the populations he was overrunning. Up until that time, Armies in the field largely sustained themselves by pillaging and foraging food, cattle, horses, etc. from the locals.

Napoleon sought a means of preserving food in order to limit the amount his Army would need to forcibly take from the locals. This effort led to canning, however another option that was examined had been foil tubes. While this was not received as a method of food storage, many painters found it an ideal means of storing oil paints, which heretofore had to be mixed in the studios. Foil tubes allowed artists to cart their canvasses, paints an easels into the landscape initiating the en plen air movement which led to the high point of impressionism.