The painting that started it: Monet’s 1874 ‘Impression: Soleil Levant’
France will stage eight major exhibitions of Impressionist paintings this year in honor of the 150th anniversary of the pioneering exhibition in 1874 that put the movement on the map, or, as it were, on the canvas.
Numerous exhibits around the world will mark the year, focusing on the work of such artists as Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Armand Guillaumin, and Frédéric Bazille, Edgar Degas and Paul Cézanne and many lesser-known.
For France, the headline exhibition will be at the home of the world’s largest and most comprehensive Impressionist collection, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Titled 1874: Inventing Impressionism, it will run from March 26 to July 14th and then travel to the National Gallery of Art in Washington from September 8 to January 19th.
The other seven main French exhibits are
- Impressionism and the Sea, at the Musée des impressionnismes in Giverny, Monet’s adopted ‘home town’ – March 29th to June 30th
- At the Dawn of Impressionism, at the Musée Eugène Boudin, in Honfleur, Normandy – April 20th to August 26th. It also marks Boudin’s 200th birthday.
- Impressionist Landscapes, at the Musée d’Orsay’s affiliate in Tourcoing, will include more than 50 Impressionist landscapes – March 16th to June 24th
- Painting Marseille, 1853-1878: Another Modernity, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, shows a southern alternate to ‘Parisian’ impressionism – May 24th to September 4th
- Claude Monet and Vétheuil, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, will show Six canvases painted by Monet in Vétheuil, at two different stages in his life– April 18th to September 24th
- Impressionism and Snow, at the Musée d’art Roger-Quilliot, in Clermont-Ferrand highlights the influence of Impressionism on artists in the area – March 8th to June 30th
- Sensations and impressions: impressionism and modernity, at Strasbourg’s Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, includes works showing the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist styles – March 19th to December 15th
