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 Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Woman with a Parasol and a Small Child on a Sunlit Hillside (1874-76). Bequest of John T. Spaulding; Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
The international touring
exhibition Monet, Renoir and the Impressionist Landscape is on view
in Richmond at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts through Dec. 10.
The exhibition is being shown exclusively on the U.S. East Coast at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and will then be exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This exhibition presents the freshest, brightest and best works. The show focuses on landscapes, because above all, the Impressionists loved the out-of-doors and painting the landscape, which they looked at in new ways, capturing the vibrant effect of light through a heightened use of color. More than 65 paintings are shown in the exhibition, ranging in date from the 1830s to about 1905. The exhibition illuminates the development of landscape painting in France during the 19th century. It makes the point that there was a division between the Salon (France's official art exhibition) and the new, independent artists who became known as the Impressionists. |
| Approximately 40 Impressionist paintings form the
core of the exhibition. Thirteen are by Claude Monet (1840-1926), who is
regarded as one of the great geniuses of the movement.
Another five are by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), whose concentration on beautiful scenes - pretty children, flowers, and above all, lovely women - have an instant appeal. Other Impressionists whose work is in the exhibition include Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas and Alfred Sisley. The exhibition reveals Impressionism's new vision through comparison with some 19 paintings by the Realists and other landscape painters who pre-date the Impressionists. The show also illustrates the legacy of Impressionism through a group of works by artists such as Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Signac, and Paul Gauguin. |
 Fisherman’s Cottage on the Cliffs at Varengeville, 1882, is an oil painting on canvas by Claude Monet. It will be on view in Richmond beginning Sept. 19. Photo courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
Monet, Renoir and the Impressionist Landscape is drawn from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The exhibition debuted at the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Nagoya, Japan (April 17-Sept. 26, 1999), and was on view at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa (June 1-Aug. 27, 2000). Following its Richmond showing, the exhibition will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Jan. 21-April 15, 2001).
The exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in collaboration with the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts on the occasion of its opening.
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