French Impressionism is a major exhibition developed by the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). The exhibition, drawn from MFA Boston’s rich collection of French Impressionist masterworks, traces the development of Impressionism and Post-impressionism in late nineteenth-century France, and represents the achievements of renowned avant-garde artists, who boldly rejected the prevailing artistic conventions of their time.

The exhibition provides insight into the world of, and connections between, the Impressionists. Arranged in ten thematic sections, it starts with an important early work by Monet (Woodgatherers at the edge of the forest, about 1863), alongside works by artists who influenced him (Eugène Boudin and painters from the Barbizon School), before mapping the growth of the French Impressionist movement through an exploration of the Impressionists’ favourite subjects and ideas, hinged on their shared fascination with capturing fleeting moments.¹

Warm-up questions

Brainstorm your thoughts and ideas surrounding Impressionism:

• Have you heard of Impressionism before? What do you know about this art movement?
• When you hear the term Impressionism what comes to mind? What words or images pop into your head?
• What do you expect to see in the exhibition?
  • What type of artworks? Sculptures, paintings, drawings, prints or photographs?
  • What subjects are you expecting to see in the works on display? For example, people and portraits, landscapes, objects and still lifes, or maybe animals? What makes you think this?
  • Can you think of any artists who might be included?

Once you have warmed up, you might like to watch an introductory video.

Impressionism started in France in the late nineteenth century. Its founding artists were described as avant-garde, referring to their experimental and unorthodox approach to creating art. The artists ventured out of their studios and painted outdoors and directly in front of their subjects, a practice known in French as painting en plein air. This practice was enabled by the 1841 innovation of metal tubes, which made paints much easier to store and transport.

The term Impressionism is linked to the artists’ aim of capturing ‘impressions’ of the world around them as they saw it; recording changing natural light, movement, and other atmospheric effects in natural and urban landscapes. The Impressionist style became known for vivid colours and distinctive brushwork, with artists using rapid, broken, feathery strokes and dabs. The greatest painters of the movement included Claude Monet (1840–1926), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) and Alfred Sisley (1839–1899).

During the 1860s, the French Impressionists were often rejected from French Salon exhibitions. Their work was seen to be ‘sketchy’, unfinished and not fitting in with the highly detailed ‘finished’ landscapes aligned with traditional art-world values. These earlier rejections spurred the artists to develop independent exhibitions, and they held their first in 1874. Impressionism is now recognised and appreciated as an important and influential art movement. 

Guided Questions

• Look closely at Claude Monet’s Meadow with poplars, c. 1875
  • What do you notice about the colours in this painting? Compare this with a traditional landscape from the 1800s, such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Souvenir of a meadow at Brunoy, 1855–65. How is it different?
  • How has Monet evoked temperature, light and the time of day? Consider the palette and use of shadow.
  • Describe the atmosphere Monet has captured in this painting.
  • How would you describe the brushstrokes used?
• A commercial innovation facilitated the direction of the Impressionists’ work. Renoir said: ‘Paints in tubes, being easy to carry, allowed us to work from nature, and nature alone. Without paints in tubes, there would have been no Cézanne, no Monet, no Sisley or Pissarro, nothing of what the journalists were later to call Impressionism.’² Which other innovations can you think of that have transformed art? What might life as an artist been like before they were invented?

In the nineteenth century the French art scene was tightly controlled by the Academy of Fine Arts (Académie des beaux-arts). The Academy provided education to the most talented art students, and taught drawing, painting, architecture and sculpture. The Academy’s control extended to deciding who and what was exhibited in France at the Paris Salon, an artist’s primary opportunity to show their work and receive recognition. Historical and academic subjects were considered superior to landscapes and still-life works. Those landscapes that were permitted were usually painted in artist studios with realistic detail. The scenes were often imagined and idealised.

A group of painters who later came to be named the Barbizon School³ paved the way for the Impressionists. They abandoned the traditional and academic styles imposed by the Academy, instead redefining landscape painting by working outdoors and recording scenes in nature.

The Barbizon School is named after a village in the forest of Fontainebleau in France. Just over 50 kilometres from Paris, Barbizon was a popular destination for artists for much of the nineteenth century. The region had abundant natural scenery, including rock formations, plains and old-growth trees. The natural surrounds became inspiring subject matter for artists painting and sketching en plein air, directly from and in nature.

Many of the future Impressionists admired the work of their predecessors, as their methods and artworks provided important guidance and inspiration to the younger painters. Artists of the Barbizon School included:

• Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875)
• Paul Huet (1803–1869)
• Narcisse Diaz de La Peña (1807–1876) – friend and mentor to leading Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Théodore Rousseau (1812–1867)
• Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) – his influence can be found in Monet’s Impressionist work Woodgatherers at the edge of the forest, 1863.

Guided Questions

Compare and contrast Théodore Rousseau’s Edge of the woods (Plain of Barbizon near Fontainebleau) and Claude Monet’s Woodgatherers at the edge of the forest, c. 1863:

• Analyse the content and composition of each of the artworks, and identify similarities between the work of Rousseau and Monet.
• Looking at each of the paintings, and describe the differences between the painting techniques.
• Discuss the visual effects that have been created by each artist, the colours used, the light captured and the mood created. How are they similar? How are they different?

Eugène Louis Boudin (1824–1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint en plein air. Boudin is not considered an Impressionist artist, but a precursor to the Impressionist movement, and he was an influential figure for Monet.

Boudin worked on a steamboat as a young boy, and later opened a shop that framed pictures. Through his shop, Boudin met Barbizon painters, who encouraged him to pursue a career in art. He started to paint full-time at the age of twenty-two.

In his early thirties, Boudin met the young Claude Monet, and the two became lifelong friends. He taught Monet how to paint with oil paint and encouraged him to paint landscapes en plein air. The two also shared a fascination with water. Monet observed that there was a lack of marine paintings at the Paris Salon and it was perhaps a niche that the older artist could fill. Boudin took Monet’s advice and devoted his career to marine paintings. Interestingly, Boudin exhibited with Monet and his friends in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, but ultimately preferred to submit works to the official Salon.

Guided Questions

• Look carefully at Boudin’s Port of Le Havre, c. 1886.
  • What do you think this painting is about?
  • What emotion or feelings does the painting communicate to you? What is it about the painting that suggests these feelings or emotions?
  • Boudin used many different shades of blue to represent the water, the clouds, and the sky. Describe three different shades of blue.
• Boudin encouraged Monet to try new ways of making art. Can you think of an example of when your teachers or parents encouraged you to try something new?

Rippling water was a favoured subject of many of the French Impressionists. Whether it was in the form of a river, the ocean or a backyard pond, capturing something described by Alfred Sisley as ‘so beautiful, so translucent, so changeable’⁴ was at heart of the Impressionist movement. Charles François Daubigny even constructed a studio boat to float down the river so that he could paint on location. In his painting Woman washing clothes at the edge of a river, c. 1860–70, the viewer feels as if they are standing in or hovering directly above the moving water.

The Impressionists depicted the ever-changing nature of water in many ways, for example:

• In Sisley’s painting The Loing at Saint-Mammès, 1882, the water is next to the land and reflects the trees, sky and other aspects of the world around it.
• To create The pond, c. 1877–79, Paul Cézanne used short, parallel brushstrokes to portray the water as a static band that sits flat and extends across the bottom half of the painting.
• Monet renders a pastel city dissolving into pink and blue dappled water in Grand Canal, Venice, In fact, Monet painted thirty-seven artworks inspired by the canals of Venice over the course of his two-month stay in 1908.

Guided Questions

• Describe how Monet uses colour and paint to capture the water and atmosphere in Grand Canal, Venice. How does the painting make you feel?
• Compare and contrast Woman washing clothes at the edge of a river with The Loing at Saint-Mammès. How are they similar and different?
• Imagine you are one of the figures in The pond. What are you thinking as you gaze out onto the water?

Although painting en plein air was a favoured approach of the Impressionists, many of the artists continued to maintain a studio practice, as we see in the still-life paintings in the exhibition. Painting outside in the natural world had its limitations: the artists were at the mercy of the weather and other uncontrollable elements. Still life presented the opportunity to apply the naturalistic, living effect of Impressionist methods to static objects, animating them with colour and texture.

Just as the Impressionists had limitless creativity when capturing watery surfaces, they also each brought their own unique style and innovation to still life:

• Cézanne was referred to by critics as the ‘master of still life’.⁵ He embraced this genre to investigate questions of form, structure and colour, as shown in Fruit and a jug on a table, 1890–94.
• Renoir used still life to experiment with painting techniques, using a range of brushstrokes to create texture and vibrant contrasts of colour to produce luminosity (Mixed flowers in an earthenware pot, 1869).
• For Berthe Morisot, still life was an opportunity for experimentation, where she could apply her characteristic quick brushwork to the canvas. Her work White flowers in a bowl, 1885, records her hurried brushwork, creating a sketch-like quality often remarked upon by critics of the time as being linked to her ‘feminine’ ability to record mere impressions of the world around her.

Guided Questions

• Compare and contrast White flowers in a bowl with Mixed flowers in an earthenware pot. How do the different colour palettes impact the mood of the paintings?
• Describe any evidence you can find of the importance of form, colour and structure in Cézanne’s Fruit and a jug on a table, 1890–94. How might Cézanne’s approach be seen as elevating still-life painting?
• In what ways were women restricted as artists during the nineteenth century? How may this have impacted the subject matter of their paintings?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s artistic style underwent many transformations throughout his career. He was constantly trying to improve his technique by learning, experimenting and accepting his mistakes.

Born into a working-class family, Renoir had to leave school when he was thirteen to start an apprenticeship at a porcelain factory. At the factory, he made miniature copies of Rococo-style pictures on porcelain plates and showed talent. The apprenticeship gave Renoir early art training and helped him to earn enough money to pay for a formal art education.

In 1861, Renoir studied in the Paris studio of Swiss artist Charles Gleyre; at the studio, he also befriended fellow students Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley. Renoir and his new friends shared similar visions and new ideas of art: they painted en plein air and experimented with the effects of light.

In the 1880s, Renoir experimented with pictorial effects different from those used by the other Impressionists. Inspired by Raphael and other Renaissance masters, he attempted more disciplined and formal techniques, with a focus on strong outline. The monumental Dance at Bougival, 1883, is one of his most celebrated works from this period, showing a combination of his Impressionist technique and Classical influences.

Renoir’s style changed again after 1890 as he returned to the thinly brushed colour of his earlier works. Girls picking flowers in a meadow, c. 1890, is an example of this change in his style. He continued to paint throughout the final years of his life, even after developing arthritis in 1892, which severely limited his mobility.

Guided Questions

• Dance at Bougival and Girls picking flowers in a meadow are examples of how Renoir’s style changed as he experimented with different techniques.
  • Look at the two paintings closely, observing his use of colour, line and brushwork. What differences and similarities do you notice?
  • Now focus in on the colours. What do they make you feel?
  • Do the two paintings evoke different feelings? How?
• Renoir experimented with different techniques to improve his art. He was not afraid of failures and continued learning throughout his career. Experiment with a new art-making technique and describe what you learn from the experience.

Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) was the oldest of the Impressionist group and among its most daring innovators. He shared non-hierarchical (equal) relationships with the other artists, learning from them and teaching them regardless of their age or status. For example:

• During the 1860s, Pissarro worked with the younger Renoir and Monet in Paris. They experimented with new techniques and constantly learnt from one another.
• In 1870, war broke out between France and Prussia (an area of eastern Europe which existed before Germany was unified as one country) and Pissarro took refuge in London. Monet had also moved to England during the war. Together, they studied the landscape paintings of British artists J. M. W. Turner and John Constable by visiting museums.
• Pissarro returned to France in 1871 and moved to Pontoise, outside Paris. Cézanne joined him and the two painted outdoor scenes together.

Pissarro played an important role as part of the Impressionist group and was the only artist to exhibit in all eight Impressionism exhibitions. His style was slightly different from that of some of his Impressionist friends; the shapes and forms of objects in his works are distinct and tend not to dissolve into the overall painting (which can be observed in Monet’s work). Sunlight on the road, Pontoise, 1874, is an example of this unique style.

Besides working with his fellow Impressionists, Pissarro also worked with and encouraged Post-impressionist painters such as Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh during his career, acting as a mentor to the younger artists while also learning new ideas from them. Pissarro also experimented with Neo-Impressionism in the latter half of the 1880s, exploring Georges Seurat’s Pointillism, a technique that involved applying small dots of pure colour onto the surface of the canvas to eventually create a unified composition. He later returned to his previous painting style.

Guided Questions

• The shapes of objects in Pissarro’s works are distinct. Unlike works by other Impressionists such as Monet, objects are not blended with the rest of the painting. Look at Sunlight on the road, Pontoise and identify the different shapes of the objects, such as the houses, the trees and the figures.
• Spring pasture, 1889, shows Pissarro’s experimentation with Pointillism. Compare this painting with Sunlight on the road, Pontoise. What are the differences in the brushwork of the two paintings? Which style do you prefer, and why?
• Pissarro encouraged and gave advice to younger artists, but also learned new things from them. Can you think of a time when you learned from someone you were helping?

Paris went through a major development during the latter half of the nineteenth century under the direction of urban planner Baron Haussmann. Entire neighbourhoods were demolished and tens of thousands of workers were hired to improve the city’s water supply, sanitation, sewerage and rail system. The transformation of the city brought new people to live and work there, and with them, artists who were inspired to ‘be of one’s own time’⁶ and depict the diverse individuals they observed in modern urban life.

Some artists re-created people and places they had observed on the street using models in their studios, such as in Édouard Manet’s Street singer, c. 1862. Others, including Edgar Degas (1834–1917), depicted the excitement and enjoyment of middle-class activities such as a day at the races (At the races in the countryside, 1869).

American artist Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) often painted family members and domestic scenes, including her niece in Ellen Mary in a white coat, c. 1896. Cassatt herself is believed to be the subject of a painting by her lifelong friend Degas, Visit to a museum, c. 1879–90. She is supposedly shown, possibly with her sister, looking both interested but also perhaps tired after a long day admiring works of art.

Guided Questions

• What story do you think Manet is telling us about the person in his painting Street singer? Consider their posture, the object/s they’re holding, and details of their clothes.
• Imagine you’re one of the women in Degas’ painting Visit to a museum. What can you hear, smell and see? What are clues you see in the painting that suggest these sensations?

For the French Impressionists, innovation and experimentation expanded beyond canvas and paint. They experimented with printmaking, pushing the medium in new and innovative directions.

Edgar Degas’ craze for prints was infectious. He influenced artists around him, sharing technical advice and even printing some of their plates. In 1879, Degas, Cassatt, and Pissarro teamed up with the goal of publishing an illustrated journal of original etchings called Le Jour et la nuit (Day and night). The journal’s title referenced the play of light and shadow captured in the works from the series. They never published the journal, but the idea inspired the artists to create some of the most remarkable prints of the late nineteenth century.

The artists approached printmaking as they did their paintings, unconcerned by tradition and willing to combine media in unconventional ways. They combined different printing techniques such as lithography, drypoint aquatint and soft ground, and worked their plates through multiple states. Each state shows the artist’s process; they printed the plate then worked on it further and printed it again.

Cassatt created a set of prints for Le Jour et la nuit called In the opera box no. 3, 1879–80. She worked through seven states, superimposing layers of aquatint tone over soft ground to create a hazy atmosphere. Reflecting her interest in artificial light (a new phenomenon at the time), the work shows Cassatt’s sister in a mirrored theatre box, backlit by the dazzling chandelier.

Guided Questions

• What do you notice about each state of Cassatt’s prints? Describe the changes.
• How would you describe the atmosphere in Cassatt’s final print, 7^th of 7 states? What visual effects create this atmosphere?

Claude Monet (1840–1926) started drawing at a young age. Even as a teenager, he was able to earn extra money with his caricatures . Monet was determined to be an artist despite his father’s disapproval. As a teenager he befriended Eugène Boudin, who taught him how to paint and encouraged him to paint outdoors (refer to Boudin as Exemplar for more information). He served in the French army for two years and studied for a short time at art school, leaving early, as he did not like the traditional style of art that was taught.

Monet eventually joined Charles Gleyre’s studio in 1862, where he befriended other artists such as Renoir and Sisley.He went to England in 1870 to flee the Franco-Prussian war, and later to Argenteuil, near Paris, in 1871. Monet and his friends held the first independent Impressionist exhibition in 1874 after a series of rejections by the official Salon. One of his works exhibited, Impression, sunrise, 1873, is the origin of the Impressionist movement’s name.

In 1883, Monet settled in the small town of Giverny. He often painted multiple canvases depicting the same scene at different times of day to capture the changing atmospheric conditions. For example, in his famous Haystack series, he painted stacks of wheat from outside his Giverny farmhouse at different times of day, and during different seasons and weather conditions (Grainstack (snow effect), 1891).

A garden pond also features in many of Monet’s most famous works from this period, such as The water lily pond, 1900. Inspired by Japanese art, Monet extended his garden at his home and installed a waterlily pond complete with a bridge running across it. He spent the final years of his life – while suffering from deteriorating eyesight and lung cancer – on his largest project, a series of large panels of his pond, which he gifted to the people of France. These panels are now permanently on display at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.

Guided Questions

• Find two paintings of a similar scene or subject by Monet in the exhibition and compare the two paintings carefully. How did Monet use colour to capture light? What time of day do you think they were painted? How can you tell?
• Monet has used a variety of colours to show the water surface in Antibes, afternoon effect, 1888. Describe the colours as if you are talking to someone who has never seen the painting.
• Monet painted his garden at different times of the day under different light conditions. Find a window around your school or home and take two photographs of the view outside at different times of the day. Compare the two photographs. How do the colours of the same view change under different light conditions?

• Consider any ideas you had about Impressionism before viewing the exhibition, and how these may have changed. Complete the following sentence stems to prompt your reflection: I used to think … Now I think …
• What has this exhibition inspired you to investigate further? Are there any artists or artworks that you would like to research in more detail?
• How has this exhibition inspired you creatively? If you’re interested in making some of your own Impressionist-inspired artwork, here are some great art ideas to get you started:
  • Expressive skies
  • Tissue collage
  • Everyday moments