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Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass)
Some experts have called this work "the origin of Impressionism". Manet shocked the Art world when he exhibited the painting at the Salon des Refusés in 1863. Émile Zola wrote about this monumental canvas: "It is, in short, this vast ensemble, full of atmosphere, this corner of nature rendered with a simplicity so just, all of this admirable page in which an artist has placed all the particular and rare elements which are in him." -
Olympia
We can say that this is one of the most controversial paintings of all time, and it was not well received by the critics when it was first exhibited in 1865. "Who is that yellow odalisque?" asked Jules Claretie from L'Artiste, while Antonin Proust declared that "If the canvas of the Olympia was not destroyed, it is only because of the precautions that were taken by the administration." -
The Terrace at Sainte Adresse
"The Terrace at Sainte Adresse" is arguably Monet's first masterpiece, and still one of the most famous paintings from early Impressionism. The bourgeois scene is developed under a strong "plein air" light. The clear limits between land, sea and sky divide and hierarchies the composition, vertically organized by the two flags fluttered by the ocean breeze. -
Dock at Deauville
Eugene Boudin was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors, and he is widely recognized as one of the most important influences to the first Impressionist painters. -
The Artist's Studio
"The artist's studio" is widely considered Frederic Brazille's masterpiece, in which we can find some important names in the Impressionist movement: painters like Monet, Renoir and Manet; and friends like Emile Zola or Edmond Maître. -
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Impressionism Art Era
Impressionism can be considered the first distinctly modern movement in painting. Developing in Paris in the 1860s, its influence spread throughout Europe and eventually the United States. Its originators were artists who rejected the official, government-sanctioned exhibitions, or salons, and were consequently shunned by powerful academic art institutions. -
The Hanged Man's House in Auvers-sur-Oise
This strange landscape is arguably Cézanne's first masterpiece, and it was one of the 3 works exhibited by the artist at the Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1874, where it was purchased by Count Armand Doria. While "The Hanged Man's House" can still be considered a Impressionist painting, the work is finished in Cézanne's early and very personal style, working the surface of the canvas with a palette knife. -
Soleil couchant à Ivry (Sunset at Ivry)
Though not as famous as Monet, Renoir, and others first-class Impressionist painters, Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927) was an important figure in the Impressionist movement. Friend of Renoir, Cézanne and van Gogh, Guillaumin is arguably the most colorist of all the Impressionist group, which can be easily appreciated in his landscapes of Paris, the Provence and the Mediterranean coast. -
Impression, Sunrise
“Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape" said of this canvas Louis Leroy, an Art critic, when the painted was exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1877. And this is just an example of how most of the critics of the time reacted to this painting, and, by extension, to the whole Impressionist movement (a movement that in fact owes its name to this painting) It is not surprising, then, that nobody offered 1,000 francs, the asking price for this painting. -
The Dance Class
Degas paintings of young dancers or ballerinas are among his greatest and of course most famous- achievements. Degas depicted these young girls as true professionals, practicing all day long under the strict tutelage of the master. In this canvas, the dance master appears at the center-right of the composition, supervising the scene like an authority at the height of his powers. -
L'absinthe (Absinthe Drinkers)
The sad and melancholic "Absinthe drinkers" appears to have influenced works of later artists, such as Picasso's interiors from the Blue Period, or Edward Hopper's urban scenes. -
Les Raboteurs (The floor scrapers)
The vertiginous perspective and the almost photographic focus are characteristic of Caillebotte's first works. This work exemplifies as no other the stupor that Caillebotte could cause between the assistants to the first impressionist exhibitions. Zola, who really appreciated Caillebotte, described it like "an antiartistic, clean painting, frost and bourgeois, by force of exactitude." -
Paris Street, Rainy Day
This is Caillebotte's most famous and ambitious painting, exhibited at the Third Impressionist Exhibition at the Rue Le Peletier, where it was not well accepted by the critic. L'Évenement wrote about this painting: "the drawing is of good quality, but Caillebotte has forgotten to include the rain". Anyways, this is one of the best representations of 19th century Paris ever painted. -
Still Life with Fruit Basket (The Kitchen Table)
Cézanne is arguably the greatest master of still life painting of any era, and this shining painting constitutes one of his most ambitious compositions. Where is this basket? Placed in a very unstable position in the upper right corner of the table, or -thanks to a complex perspective- is on the ground along with the wood piece partially depicted at the right of the painting? Here Cézanne has created a double perspective to paint a sensational work in which the cubism begins to appear. -
A Holiday in Mentone
An English-born painter, Conder (1868-1909) emigrated to Australia when he was 20 years old, and is now considered a key figure in Australian painting. While his Art was not well received in Australia in his era, he was praised by artists like Pissarro or Degas, and Toulouse-Lautrect even painted a portrait of Conder in 1892. -
Summer Night
When talking about Impressionism, an error is often committed when considering it an exclusively French movement, when a few North American painters deserve to appear not far from Monet, Degas, Pisarro… Among all them, the most important is, with no doubt, Winslow Homer, and "Summer Night" is one of his undisputed masterpieces. The spontaneity with which the artist represents the charm and magic of a summer night makes of this painting one of the masterworks of American painting. -
The Card Players
This is the smallest of the three versions of this subject painted by Paul Cézanne, but it is quite probable that it was also the last of them, and the most elaborated. While the composition is really simple (two players facing each other, with a black bottle silently dividing the composition in two parts) the fabulous psychological intensity in the faces of the players make this painting a masterpiece of post-impressionist art. -
Summertime
Mary Cassatt was born in Pennsylvania, but lived much of her adult life in France, where she was invited by Edgar Degas to show her works with the Impressionists. The works created in the 1890s are by far the most interesting of her career, and though the Impressionist group was soon disbanded, Cassatt still had contact with some of the members, enriching her talent to the point of becoming a role model for young American artists. -
Mount Sainte-Victoire view from Lauves
Paul Cézanne painted many views of the Mount Sainte-Victoire in the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence, and this beautiful work is one of the most developed versions of all them. We can say about this work that it is “cubist before the cubism” the triangular mountain and the prairie elements -geographic or edificatory- acquire volume by the superposition of many chromatic planes. -
The Avenue in the Rain
Childe Hassam (1859-1935) was a key figure in the American Impressionism, though his only contact with a French Impressionist artist was when he took over Pierre Auguste Renoir’s former studio and found some of the painter’s oil sketches left behind. His most famous works are the “Flag” paintings, completed during World War I, and the stunning "The Avenue in the rain" is his most 'impressionistic' painting in the series. -
Spring
"Paris was a shock for me … Impressionists… in them I found everything for what I was scolded back at home, in Moscow." Korovin (1861-1939) was, along with his friend Valentin Serov, the main figure of Russian Impressionist painters. Highly influenced by the French Impressionists, he developed, however, a very personal style that mixes the typical elements of French Impressionism with the rich colors of Russian Art of his era.
