impressionism
...d". He mainly referred to Degas' approach, but certainly also to Caillebotte's, as the latter exhibited work for the first time in 1876 with the impressionists. Degas and Caillebotte made of the human figure, often confronted with the ills of big-city life (solitude, lack of communication, alcohol, prostitution...), the main subject matter of their works. The main representatives of this modernity, Degas and Caillebotte also shared a common style underlined by an intensive practice of drawing. The latter had all but disappeared from Monet's or Pissarro's working methods, and Renoir declared in 1879 that impressionism had made him lose almost entirely his sense of drawing. Renoir regretted this all the more since he aspired to become, like Degas, a master of the human figure that the impressionist stroke threatened to dissolve in light. Landscape/human figure; colour/drawing constitute two divorce points but also two anchor points from which would emerge both the future evolution of the impressionists and that of their followers. One of Seurat's aims as he painted his Dimanche à l'île de la Grande Jatte (Sunday on the Ile de la Grande Jatte), presented at the last impressionist exhibition in 1886, was to try and conciliate and synthesise these two main contradictions. Preparation and follow-up to the visit The visit In the times of the impressionist exhibitions (1874-1886) can be followed independently, but it was intended to be part of a group of three visits on impressionism: The Taste of an Era: Painters, the Salon and criticism (1848-1870) and After Impressionism (1888-1906). In addition to the educational information included in the Fact Sheets, it may be useful to recall the wealth of the impressionist collections of many other museums and in particular, in Paris, of those of the Musée de l'Orangerie and of the Musée Marmottan. List of artworks This visit is voluntarily restricted to pieces shown at the impressionist exhibitions (1874-1886), without trying to draw from this factual event any conclusions as to the authenticity or otherwise of the painters' belonging to a group, by its nature diffuse and constantly evolving. The following list, in the same logic, without being exhaustive, is that of all the artworks housed in the Musée d'Orsay that belong to this category. First impressionist exhibition (Paris, 1874) * Paul Cézanne: La maison du pendu (The Hanged Man's House), 1873; Une moderne Olympia (A Modern Olympia), 1873-1874 * Edgar Degas: Répétition d'un ballet sur la scène (Rehearsal of a Ballet on Stage), 1874; Une blanchisseuse (A Laundress) also known as Une repasseuse (An Ironer) * Armand Guillaumin: Soleil couchant à Ivry (Sunset in Evry), 1873 * Claude Monet: Coquelicots; environs d'Argenteuil (Poppies; near Argenteuil), 1873 * Berthe Morisot: Le berceau (The Cradle), 1872; Portrait de Mme Pontillon, pastel, 1871 * Camille Pissarro: Gelée blanche (White Frost), 1873 Second impressionist exhibition (Paris, 1876) * Gustave Caillebotte: Les raboteurs de parquet (The Floor Planers), 1875 * Edgar Degas: Danseuse debout, de dos (Standing Dancer Seen from the Back), painting on paper * Claude Monet: Le déjeuner, panneau décoratif (The Lunch, decorative panel), circa 1873; Le pont d'Argenteuil (The Bridge in Argenteuil), 1874 * Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Frédéric Bazille, 1867; Etude. Torse, effet de soleil (Study. Torso, sun effect), 1875-1876; Claude Monet, 1875 (?) * Alfred Sisley: L'inondation à Port-Marly (Flooding in Port-Marly), 1876 Third impressionist exhibition (Paris, 1877) * Edgar Degas: Femmes devant un café, le soir (Woman by a Cafe, in the Evening), pastel; L'Etoile (The Star), pastel; Danseuse, un bouquet à la main (Dancer holding a Bouquet), pastel; Femme sortant du bain (Woman Getting Out of her Bath), pastel, circa 1876-1877; Les choristes (The Choir Singers), pastel, 1877; Femme nue accroupie de dos (Nude Woman Squatting Seen from the Back), pastel, circa 1876-1877; L'absinthe (Woman in a Café) * Armand Guillaumin: Femme nue couchée (Nude Woman Lying) * Claude Monet: La gare Saint-Lazare (The Saint-Lazare Station), 1875; Les Tuileries, étude, 1875; Un coin d'appartement (An Appartment Corner), 1875; Les dindons (The Turkeys), 1877 * Camille Pissarro: Les toits rouges, coin de village, effet d'hiver (The Red Roofs, Village Spot, Winter Effect), 1877 (?); La moisson (The Harvest), known as La moisson à Montfoucault (Mayenne) (The Harvest in Montfoucault (Mayenne)), 1876 * Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Madame Georges Charpentier, 1876-1877; La Seine à Champrosay (The Seine in Champrosay), 1876; La balançoire (The Swing), 1876; Bal du Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre (Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre), 1876; Madame Alphonse Daudet, 1876 Fourth impressionist exhibition (Paris, 1879) * Gustave Caillebotte: Vue de toits (Effet de neige), also known as Toits sous la neige (Roofs in the Snow), 1878 * Edgar Degas: Portraits à la Bourse (Portraits at the Stock Exchange), 1878-1879; Portrait d'amis sur la scène (Portrait of Friends on Stage), pastel * Claude Monet: Vétheuil, vu de Lavacourt (Vétheuil, seen from Lavacourt), 1879; Effet de neige à Vétheuil (Snow Effect in Vétheuil), or Eglise de Vétheuil. Neige (Church in Vétheuil. Snow), 1879; La rue Montorgueil à Paris. Fête du 30 juin 1878 (The Rue Montorgueil in Paris. Celebration of June 30, 1878), 1878; Les déchargeurs de charbon (The Coal Unloaders) * Camille Pissarro: Chemin sous bois (Path in the Woods), 1877; Port-Marly, le lavoir (Port Marly, the Washing Place), 1872; Printemps. Pruniers en fleurs (Spring. Blooming Prune Trees), known as Potager; arbres en fleurs, printemps, Pontoise (Vegetable Garden; Blooming Trees, Spring, Pontoise), 1877 Fifth impressionist exhibition (Paris, 1880) * Félix Bracquemond: Portrait de M. Edmont de Goncourt, charcoal on canvas, 1880 * Edgar Degas: Portraits à la Bourse (Portraits at the Stock Exchange) * Armand Guillaumin: Place Valhubert, à Paris; Quai de la Gare, effet de neige (Railway Platform, Snow Effect) * Berthe Morisot: Jeune femme en toilette de bal (Young Woman Wearing Dancing Clothes), 1879 * Henri Rouart: La terrasse au bord de la Seine à Melun (The Terrace by the Seine in Melun), circa 1880 Sixth impressionist exhibition (Paris, 1881) * Edgar Degas: Petite danseuse de quatorze ans (Fourteen-year-old Dancing Girl), sculpture Seventh impressionist exhibition (Paris, 1882) * Camille Pissarro: La bergère (The Sheperdess), also known as Jeune fille à la baguette; paysanne assise (Young Woman with Stick; Sitting Peasant Woman), 1881; Chemin montant à travers champs. Côte des Grouettes. Pontoise (Path Leading up through Fields. Côte des Grouettes. Pontoise), 1879 (?) * Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Champ de bananiers (Field of Banana Trees), 1881 Eight impressionist exhibition (Paris, 1886) * Mary Cassatt: Jeune fille au jardin (Young Woman in the Garden), also known as Jeune fille travaillant (Woman Working) or Femme cousant dans un jardin (Woman Sewing in a Garden), 1880-1882 * Edgar Degas: Le tub (The Tub), pastel * Armand Guillaumin: Les pêcheurs (The Fishermen), circa 1885 Short bibliography * John Rewald, History of Impressionism, French translation, Albin Michel, 1946, repr. 1986 * Sophie Monneret, L'impressionnisme et son époque. Dictionnaire international, 2 vol., R. Laffont, "Bouquins", 1987 * Henri Loyrette and Gary Tinterow, Impressionnisme. Les origines (1859-1869), exhibition catalogue, RMN, 1994 * Paul Smith, L'artiste impressionniste, Flammarion, 1995 * Ruth Berson, The New Painting. Impressionism 1874-1886, San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, University of Washington Press, 1996 * Laurence Madeline, Cent chefs-d'oeuvre impressionnistes au musée d'Orsay, Scala, 1999 * Dominique Lobstein and Laurence Madeline, ABCdaire de l'impressionnisme, Flammarion, 1995 * Ralph E. Shikes and Paula Harper, Pissarro, Flammarion, 1981 * Eric Darragon, Manet, Citadelles, 1991 * Anne Distel, Seurat, Editions du Chêne, 1991, "Profils de l'art" * Henri Loyrette, Degas, Fayard, 1991 * Raymond Cogniat, Sisley, Flammarion, 1992 * William R. Johnston, Christopher Lloyd, Sylvie Patin and Mary Anne Stevens, Sisley, exhibition catalogue, RMN, 1992 * Anne Distel et allii, Gustave Caillebotte, exhibition catalogue, RMN, 1994 * Philippe Dagen, Cézanne, Flammarion, "Tout l'art", 1995 * Henri Loyrette, Degas, Passion and Intellect, Thames & Hudson, 1988 * Michel Hoog, Cézanne, The First Modern Painter, Thames & Hudson, 1991 * Françoise Cachin, Seurat. Le rêve de l'art-science, Gallimard, "Découvertes", 1991 * Anne Distel, Renoir, Sensuous Vision, Thames & Hudson, 1993 * Sylvie Patin, Monet, The Ultimate Eye, Thames & Hudson, 1991 * Anne Distel, Signac au temps d'harmonie, Gallimard, "Découvertes", 2001 * Isabelle Cahn, L'ABCdaire de Cézanne, Flammarion, 1995 * Stéphane Guégan and Loïc Stavridès, L'ABCdaire de Monet, Flammarion, 1999 CD-ROM * Claire Barbillon (dir.), The Impressionists, RMN/Musée d'Orsay, 1997 The visit: the artworks The following selection of artworks is just one possible proposal. The teacher, guide or group leader remains free to choose according to the expectations and composition of the group, availability of pieces and galleries, etc. 1. Camille Pissarro (1830-1903): Gelée blanche, ancienne route d'Ennery, Pontoise (White Frost, Old Ennery Road, Pontoise), 1873 * location: upper level, gallery 39 * the subject matter: this painting was made near Pontoise where the painter lived from 1873 to 1882. What is now the prefecture of the Val d'Oise département and its surroundings then offered Pissarro and his friends (Cézanne, Guillaumin and later Gauguin) varied and often rustic landscapes. Pissarro was also interested in other aspects of Pontoise and its surroundings: the factory, the town streets, etc... * background: White Frost was one of five pieces presented by Pissarro at the first exhibition of the group in 1874. The critic Louis Leroy then wrote: "What is that ? - You see, white frost on deep ridges. - Ridges, that ? That, frost ?... But those are sheer scratches of paint uniformly put on a dirty canvas. It has neither head or tail, neither top or bottom, neither front or back." Other critics proved more understanding, including Philippe Burty: "A White Frost effect by Mr Pissarro reminds one of the best Millets" and Castagnary: "As for Mr Pissarro, he is sober and strong... He has the serious flaw of painting on his grounds (White Frost) the shadows of trees that stand outside the frame and that for this reason the spectator can only imagine, as he cannot see them... But these faults of logic or these instances of bad taste do not alter his strong qualities as a practicioner." * observe: Pissarro's dense and rough stroke. Leroy has rightly noted the "scratches" on the surface of the canvas that seems to us to be in perfect harmony with the subject matter. The knife work, the density of the stroke, produce a compact, closed landscape in which the air no longer seems to circulate. This sensation is accentuated by the upward diagonals of the seams that give the composition its rhythm. The character carrying a load seems likewise overburdened by the heaviness of this winter landscape. Pissarro's technique contributes to the impression made by his subject matter. In spite of a broader stroke, despite an analysis of light that is less accurate than that made by Monet in contemporary pieces, White Frost, as it captured a particular instant in a winter day, partakes in impressionist research. 2. Claude Monet (1840-1926): Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil (The Railway Bridge in Argenteuil), circa 1874 * location: upper level, gallery 29 * subject: the railway bridge in Argenteuil was often painted by Monet, as well as by Renoir and Caillebotte. Inaugurated in 1863 and rebuilt after the 1870-1871 war, it features a metallic architecture that made it a favourite motif of the impressionists, who praised modernity. The steam engine passing by adds to the impression of progress and modernism of the landscape. * background: Argenteuil became the birthplace of impressionism thanks to Monet's long sojourn there (1871-1878). Close to Paris, the town provided for city-dwellers such leisure activities as walking and rowing. Monet explored all the facets of this town uprooted by the massive arrival of Parisians. * observe: the bridge constitutes the main motif of the painting. The diagonal it represents crosses the whole composition and gives it its dynamics. The passage of the train, with its funnel of steam, accentuates the impression of speed caused by the oblique formed by the bridge and deepens a striking perspective. The stroke that follows the inclination of the grass contributes to the general movement of the composition. Monet's stroke is never uniform. It varies according to the motifs, according to the impression they are meant to render in the painting. The stone pillars of the bridge are painted full length and their massive shape is not understated. They plunge in the Seine and contradict the sensation of outward movement created by the diagonal of the railway. 3. Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894): Les raboteurs de parquet (The Floor Planers), 1875 * location: upper level, gallery 30 * subject matter: this painting constitutes one of the first representations of the urban proletariat. Whereas peasants (Gleaners by Millet) or country workers (Stone Breakers by Courbet) had often been shown, city workers had seldom been painted. Caillebotte, from a well-off bourgeois background, could have observed the floor planers working in one of the rooms of the family mansion on the Avenue de Miromesnil. Unlike Courbet or Millet, Caillebotte does not incorporate any social, moralising or political message in his work. His thorough documentary study (gestures, tools, accessories) justifies his position among the most accomplished realists. He answered with precision the critic Duranty's injunctions who exhorted painters a few months later to represent what happened in apartments. * background: Caillebotte presented his painting at the 1875 Salon. The Jury, no doubt shocked by its crude realism, rejected it (some critics talked of "vulgar subject matter"). The young painter then decided to join the impressionists and presented his painting at the second exhibition of the group in 1876. In the same year, Degas exhibited his first Ironers. The painting was immediately noticed. Critics were struck by this great modern tableau, Zola, in particular, although he condemned this "painting that is so accurate that it makes it bourgeois". On his death, Caillebotte, who was also an important collector of impressionist paintings, bequeathed his collection to the state. Renoir chose the Floor Planers to represent Caillebotte's painting among that of the impressionists. * observe: the traditional technique applied to a modern subject. Caillebotte had undergone a completely academic training, studying with Bonnat. The perspective, accentuated by the high angle shot and the alignment of floorboards complies with tradition. Caillebotte quoted the posture of a famous antique copied by all the "daubers" of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The artist drew one by one all the parts of his painting, according to the academic method, before reporting them using the square method on the canvas. The nude torsos of the planers are those of heroes of Antiquity, it would be unimaginable for Parisian workers of those times. But far from closeting himself in those academic exercises, Caillebotte has exploited their rigour in order to explore the contemporary universe in a completely new way. 4. Edgar Degas (1834-1917): La classe de danse (The Dancing Class), begun in 1873, finished in 1875-1876 * location: upper level, gallery 31 * subject matter: this painting constitutes both an individualised portrait, that of the ballet master Jules Perrot, and a reconstructed genre painting showing the end of a rehearsal. * background: Degas was a regular attendant of the Paris Opera House (here it is the Opera House in the Rue Le Peletier), as a spectator but also backstage, and in the foyer. From the early 1870's onwards when they appeared for the first time in L'orchestre de l'Opéra, dancers became a favourite subject matter for the painter. * observe: the highly constructed composition. The scene is set in a room of which the space, organised according to a very accentuated perspective, can be read clearly. The difference between the representation of the ballet master, who can easily be recognised, and that of the dancing girls. The strokes are lighter, less accurate than for the master. But above all, their faces are indistinguishable, with only a few details (head dresses, ribbons, attitudes) providing for variations. Degas seems to represent the type of the dancing girl through the multitude of "petits rats" surrounding the master. 5. Alfred Sisley (1839-1899): L'inondation à Port-Marly (Flooding in Port-Marly), 1876 * location: upper level, gallery 32 * subject matter: in March 1876, the Seine flooded the village of Port-Marly. The painter, who then lived close by, in Marly-le-Roi, painted three different views of this event. * background: the painting was exhibited at the second impressionist exhibition, in 1876. Sisley, who presented seven other landscapes, was relatively well received by critics. Zola, for instance, noted that "Sisley also is a very talented landscape painter who commands better balanced means than Pissarro... His painting Flooding in Port-Marly is made up of wide brush strokes and a delicate coloration." * observe: Zola used two words to qualify Sisley's work: "balance" and "delicate". They were constantly used about Sisley. Balance: Sisley constructed his composition according to traditional rules for painting landscapes. The flooding Seine, for instance, occupies a horizontal third of the painting. The sky, the two upper thirds. The screen formed on the left by the shop answers that sketched on the right by the trees prolonged by the telegraph post... Delicacy: the colours, all in tones of grey, answer each other without dissonance. A small red spot (ensign of the building) placed on the limit of the vertical third of the composition, warms the whole. 6. Claude Monet (1840-1926): Les dindons (The Turkeys), 1877 * location: upper level, gallery 32 * subject matter: it may seem incongruous: a flock of turkeys peacefully move about in a park with the pink and white façade of a castle in the background. Monet wanted to deliver, with his white birds absorbing light, a page of nature, simple and vivid. * background: Monet made four panels - The Turkeys, Garden Corner in Montgeron, The Pond in Montgeron, The Hunt - for the decoration of the dining room of his sponsor Ernest Hoschédé at the Rottenbourg castle (Montgeron, Seine-et-Oise, today Essonne), the façade of which can be seen in the painting. It was the first time Monet practised decoration. He had sojourned in 1876 at his sponsor's to make his panels and he presented The Turkeys at the third impressionist exhibition in 1877, hoping to attract new commissions and find new amateurs. The painting was ill-received and attracted "Wild laughter. People were in fits, creased up, holding their bellies", reported Mirbeau in 1884. * observe: the painting is of a square format, a format Monet often adopted when he made particularly decorative paintings. The highly green grass occupies two thirds of the composition, recalling the plant universe of the "mille-fleurs" tapestries of the late middle ages. The painter sat in a contra posto, giving the impression the turkeys are on a hill behind which the castle is partly hidden. The colours are vivid, playing on the opposition of red and green. The irony of the lower framing with the emerging head of a turkey. 7. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919): Bal au Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre (Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre), 1876 * location: upper level, gallery 32 * subject matter: the Moulin de la Galette was a dancing café at the foot of Montmartre hill. The hill was then a suburb of the capital city where a few mills subsisted, together with many vegetable gardens, and where a working class population lived. It was also there that the Church of the Sacré Coeur was being built from 1872 onwards, meant to be a sign of expiation of the "crimes of the Commune". * background: the painting was presented at the third impressionist exhibition organised by Caillebotte, Renoir, Monet and Pissarro. Renoir meant to represent an "historical painting": a modern scene staging everyday heroes on a large format canvas. He drew inspiration from two famous paintings of the Louvre: La kermesse (The Bazaar) by Rubens and L'embarquement pour Cythère (Boarding for Cythera) by Watteau. The modern tone is accentuated by a willingness to render the fleeting pleasures of leisure, in the open air. * observe: the impression of open air: the irregularly-spread spots of light that modify colours and restituate the effect of sun beams through the foliage. The impression of movement: given by the positions of dancers whose size quickly shrinks, by the light that blurs the vision as well as by the dissolution of the drawing that tends to blur the shapes, melting them with the pictorial surface. This impression of life given by a few small events being recounted before our eyes: glances exchanged, gestures... 8. Claude Monet (1840-1926): La rue Montorgueil, fête du 30 juin 1878 (The Rue Montorgueil, celebration of June 30th,1878), 1878 * location: upper level, gallery 32 * subject matter: on June 30th, 1878, France celebrated the success of the World Fair that marked the renewal of France after the 1870 defeat and the victory of republicans after the 1876 and 1877 elections. Monet painted on the same day a second view of these decorated streets with a painting now at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen: La rue Saint-Denis. He wrote in 1920 how he had made his painting: "I liked flags. The first national celebration of June 30th, I walked with my working instruments, Rue de Montorgueil; there were flags out all over the street and it was crowded; I saw a balcony, went up and asked for the permission to paint, which was accorded. Then I left, incognito." * background: Monet had just left Argenteuil to settle in Paris. Af...