Impressionists
The National Gallery, London
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
The term 'Impressionist' was first used as an insult in response to an
exhibition of new paintings in Paris in 1874. A diverse group of painters,
rejected by the art establishment, defiantly set up their own exhibition.
Modern life and the way that ordinary people spent their free time were
popular subjects with many Impressionist painters.
Traditionally in France the middle classes had not been considered fit
subjects for serious painting, while the working classes and the peasantry
were usually portrayed as comic yokels, or timeless figures of rural life.
Even more significant to the Impressionists was an interest in the way in
which the human mind processes what it sees. When we look at a
landscape, or a crowd of people, we do not instantly see every face, or leaf
in detailed focus, but as a mass of colour and light. Impressionist painters
tried to express this experience.
Today, the Impressionist paintings are some of the best-known and bestloved in the National Gallery collection. It takes a leap of the imagination
for us to realise how radical the movement was considered in its day. The
gallery didn’t want to display the paintings at first. Not sure if they would
“fit” into the National Gallery collection – impressionists were working
around the same time the gallery opened.
Menzel
Afternoon in the Tuileries
Gardens
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Oil on canvas
Menzel was the most important
German artist of late 19th century.
Vision of popular Paris gardens,
though inspired by second trip to
Paris, painted in Berlin.
This painting was a response to
Manet “Music in the Tuileries
Gardens” which he saw in
exhibition in 1867.
Paris host to world fair, lots of
nationalities shown here (can tell
by the headgear.
• Far left – woman with white
bonnet and pram.
• Centre – man with two kids
running around his ankles,
North African fez.
• Far right – man with top hat
behind back, spectacles
Adolf Menzel, Afternoon in the Tuileries Gardens, 1867.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Adolf Menzel, Afternoon in the Tuileries Gardens, 1867.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Edouard Manet, Music in the Tuileries Gardens, 1862.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Manet
Eva Gonzales
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Oil on canvas
Eva Gonzalès (1849 - 1883)
entered Manet's studio as his pupil
in February 1869. Manet is said to
have begun a portrait of her that
February, which was eventually
completed on 12 March 1870 and
exhibited at the Salon of the same
year. The present whereabouts of
the flower-piece shown on her
easel in the painting is not known.
Shown putting finishing touches
on painting, but white satin dress
very unpractical for painting with
oil and canvas already framed, also
unnatural pose.
Canvas on the floor signed by
Manet.
Edouard Manet, Eva Gonzales, 1870.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Monet
The Japanese Bridge
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Oil on canvas
Monet created this near-abstract
work in the garden of his house in
Giverny. The bridge, which spans
the pond he created, appears in
several of his works from the
1890s onwards, notably 'The
Water-Lily Pond'.
In this late painting, however, the
brushwork is remarkably liberal, as
animated as Monet's use of colour.
Bold greens, applied with vigour,
create a pattern across the surface
of the canvas, while touches of
white suggest the dazzling effects
of light on water.
Up close cant see anything, but as
move further back things start to
take shape. “Impression” of a
bridge.
Claude-Oscar Monet, The Japanese Bridge, 1919-24.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Claude-Oscar Monet, The Japanese Bridge, 1919-24.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Claude-Oscar Monet, The Water-Lily Pond, 1899.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Pissarro
The Boulevard Montmartre at
Night
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Oil on canvas
Towards the end of his life Pissarro
increasingly turned to the
representation of town scenes in
Paris, Rouen, Dieppe, Le Havre and
London, mainly painted from the
windows of hotels and apartments.
In February 1897 he took a room in
Paris at the Hôtel de Russie on the
corner of the Boulevard des Italiens
and the Rue Drouot, and produced a
series of paintings of the Boulevard
Montmartre at different times of the
day. Pissarro may have been
influenced by the series of paintings
on which Monet was engaged at this
time, and by the earlier urban scenes
of Manet.
This painting is the only night scene
from this series, and is a masterful
rendition of the play of lights on dark
and wet streets. Pissarro neither
signed nor exhibited it during his
lifetime.
Street lights were still new, allowing
shops to stay open longer and for
streets to be busy at more hours.
Camille Pissarro, Boulevard Montmartre at Night, 1897.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Degas
Miss La La at the Cirque
Fernando
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Oil on canvas
The acrobat Miss La La caused a
sensation when she performed at the
Cirque Fernando in Paris. Here she is
shown suspended from the rafters of
the circus dome by a rope clenched
between her teeth.
Degas sought out such striking
modern subjects, concentrating on
figures in arresting poses. In January
1879 he make a series of drawings at
the Cirque Fernando including
a pastel study of Miss La La (London,
Tate Gallery), which culminated in
this painting. We view the spectacle
as the audience would have done,
gazing up at the daring feat taking
place above.
The painting was exhibited at the
fourth Impressionist exhibition held
in April 1879.
Painted almost like pastel – which
degas loved
Hired mathematician to help him get
the proportions of the dome right.
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Degas
Helene Rouart in her Father’s
Study
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Oil on canvas
The sitter in this portrait was the
daughter of Degas's lifelong friend,
the industrialist and collector
Henri Rouart. She is shown in the
family house surrounded by
paintings and objects from her
father's collection, including
Egyptian wooden statues, a
Chinese wall-hanging, a painting
by Corot and a drawing by Millet.
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Helene Rouet in her Father’s Study, about 1886.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Manet
Corner of a Café-Concert
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Oil on canvas
This work was originally the right
half of a painting of the Brasserie
de Reichshoffen, begun in about
1878 and cut in two by Manet
before he completed it. This half
was then enlarged on the right and
a new background was added. The
left half of the composition is in
the Oskar Reinhart Collection,
Winterthur.
The Brasserie de Reichshoffen was
in the Boulevard Rochechouart,
Paris. At the time, brasseries with
waitresses were fairly new in the
city.
Line on the mans blue coat is
where Manet added to this
painting – over time oil paint starts
to fade and changes made by
artists become visible.
Edouard Manet, Corner of a Café-Concert, probably 1878-80.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Van Gogh
A Wheatfield, with Cypresses
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This was painted in September
1889, when Van Gogh was in the
St-Rémy mental asylum, near
Arles, where he was a patient from
May 1889 until May 1890. It is one
of three almost identical versions
of the composition. Another
painting of the cypresses (New
York, Metropolitan Museum of
Art) was painted earlier in July
1889, and was probably painted
directly in front of the subject.
Cypres trees reminded him of
Egyptian Obelisks
Vincent Van Gogh, A Wheatfield with Cypresses, 1889.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Rousseau
Surprised!
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This is the first of the jungle scenes
on which Rousseau's fame chiefly
depends. This painting was exhibited
at the Salon des Indépendants in
1891 with the title 'Surpris!'. It was
later described by the artist as
representing a tiger hunting
explorers.
Rousseau claimed that he had gained
knowledge of the jungle while
serving as a regimental bandsman in
Mexico in the 1860s, but this seems
to be a fiction and his paintings were
probably inspired by visits to the
botanical gardens in Paris and by
prints. The figure of the tiger may
have been based on a print after
a pastel by Delacroix.
Tiger crouches in foreground,
surprised by mans arrival. Jungle is
imaginary, derived from specimens of
tropical plants in the gardens of Paris.
Henri Rousseau, Surprised! , 1891 .
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Monet
Irises
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A number of paintings dating from
the last years of Monet's life depict
the irises which grew near the
water in his garden at Giverny. The
unusual perspective in this
painting suggests that he was
looking down at the irises and
winding path, perhaps from the
Japanese bridge.
Although this work is the same
height as Monet's large water-lily
paintings, there is no evidence to
suggest that he intended it to be
part of the series.
Claude-Oscar Monet, Irises, about 1914-17.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Pissarro
Fox Hill, Upper Norwood
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Towards the end of 1870 Pissarro
and his family took refuge in
England from the Franco-Prussian
war. He stayed in Upper Norwood,
London until June 1871, and
painted several views of Norwood
and Sydenham including 'The
Avenue, Sydenham'. Many of the
houses in this street have been
rebuilt but the general character of
this view and the distinctive bend
still correspond with Pissarro's
painting.
Camille Pissarro, Fox Hill, Upper Norwood, 1870.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Van Gogh
Sunflowers
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This is one of four paintings of
sunflowers dating from August and
September 1888. Van Gogh
intended to decorate Gauguin's
room with these paintings in the
so-called Yellow House that he
rented in Arles in the South of
France. He and Gauguin worked
there together between October
and December 1888.
The dying flowers are built up with
thick brushstrokes (impasto). The
impasto evokes the texture of the
seed-heads. Van Gogh produced a
replica of this painting in January
1889, and perhaps another one
later in the year. The various
versions and replicas remain much
debated among Van Gogh
scholars.
Associated the colour yellow with
hope and friendship.
Vincent Van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Seurat
Bathers at Asnieres
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Asnières is an industrial suburb west of
Paris on the River Seine. The present
work shows a group of young workmen
taking their leisure by the river.
This was the first of Seurat's largescale compositions. He drew conté
crayon studies for individual figures
using live models, and made small
oil sketcheson site which he used to help
design the composition and record
effects of light and atmosphere. Some
14 oil sketches and 10 drawings survive.
The final composition, painted in
the studio, combines information from
both.
While the painting was not executed
using Seurat's pointillist technique,
which he had not yet invented, the artist
later reworked areas of this picture using
dots of contrasting colour to create a
vibrant, luminous effect. For example,
dots of orange and blue were added to
the boy's hat.
The simplicity of the forms and the use
of regular shapes clearly defined by light
recalls paintings by the Renaissance
artist Piero della Francesca. In his use of
figures seen in profile, Seurat may also
have been influenced by ancient
Egyptian art.
Georges Seurat, Bathers at Asnieres, 1884.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Gauguin
A Vase of Flowers
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This painting was produced in Tahiti
after Gauguin's final move there from
France. It was sold by his friend
Daniel de Monfried in 1898 to Degas,
who was an early admirer of
Gauguin's art. Flower paintings were
common among the painters of this
period; Degas and Van Gogh are
among the greatest exponents of the
type.
The vase is decorated with only a
pattern of gold lines and placed
virtually in the centre of the painting,
on a wooden ledge where pink and
red blooms have fallen. The flowers
form a relatively symmetrical pattern
with broad blue leaves to each side
of cream and red flowers. The muted
colours of the background wall and
the shelf act as a foil to the exotic
flowers that are the central subject of
the painting.
Paul Gaugin, A Vase of Flowers, 1896.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Morisot
Summer’s Day
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This is probably the painting that
Morisot exhibited under the title
'The Lake in the Bois de Boulogne'
in the
fifth Impressionist exhibition, held
in 1880. Intentionally sketchy in
execution, it depicts two
fashionable young women in a
boat floating placidly on a lake.
The sense of a visual impression
that has been quickly captured on
canvas is reinforced by the tiny
detail of a horse-drawn carriage
moving swiftly along the far shore.
The women, probably professional
models, also appear in other works
by Morisot.
Berthe Morisot, Summer’s Day, about 1879.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Cezanne
An Old Woman with a Rosary
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According to the poet and writer
Joachim Gasquet, the sitter in this
painting was a former nun who
had escaped from a convent and
had wandered aimlessly until the
painter took her on as a servant.
Gasquet found this painting in
1896 at Cézanne's family house
near Aix-en-Provence, lying on the
floor of the artist's studio with a
pipe dripping on it. The lower left
hand corner is marked by splashed
water or steam.
Paul Cezanne, An Old Woman with a Rosary, about 1895-6.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Cezanne
Bathers (Les Grandes
Baigneuses)
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Cézanne painted bathers from the 1870s
onwards, including
numerouscompositions of male and
female bathers, singly or in groups. Late
in life, he painted three large-scale
female bather groups. In addition to the
National Gallery's painting, they are now
in the Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA,
and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He
seems to have been at work on all three
simultaneously at the time of his death.
In such works, Cézanne was
reinterpreting a long tradition of
paintings with nude figures in the
landscape by artists such
as Titian and Poussin. While the subjects
of their works were taken
from classical myths, Cézanne did not
use direct literary sources. Instead, his
central theme was the harmony of the
figures with the landscape expressed
through solid forms, strict architectonic
structure, and the earth tones of the
bodies. When exhibited in 1907, this
painting became an inspiration for the
nascent Cubist movement;
both Picassoand Matisse took a strong
interest in it.
Paul Cezanne, Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneues), about 1894-1905.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
Sisley
The Watering Place at
Marly-le-Roi
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Sisley lived in Marly-le-Roi, west of
Paris, from 1875-77. There he
painted numerous pictures of the
elegant watering-place, one of the
few remains of Louis XIV's summer
palace, which was destroyed in
1793. Here it is shown in the
winter, its surface almost
completely frozen and covered
with snow.
Alfred Sisley, The Watering Place at Marly-le-Roy, probably 1875.
Photo © The National Gallery, London.
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