Unbeknownst to me, I went to see the Turner visiting collection, and a bunch of French impressionist art was part of the permanent collection here, including considerable diversity, from both the early and later impressionists. Impressionism is as its name suggests, not an attempt at stark realism but an attempt to render how certain lightings leave certain impressions on the artist. In other words, it is a more subjective rather than objective take on the subject matter, along the lines of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Impressionists were generally not commissioned to do religious art, and in any case they preferred to paint pastoral scenes and interesting looking people. At first, the Impressionists were ignored, shunned, seriously critiqued by the ‘illuminati’ of French culture and the press, but gradually they won more and more of an audience through displaying and selling their works in big salons in Paris. Here is a sampling of the holdings in the Kimbel.
Mary Cassatt is interesting not only because she is that rare female artist amongst the Impressionists, but also because she was born in America, in Pennsylvania and did some of her artistic study in Philadelphia. But the vast majority of her life she lived in Europe, particularly in Paris, and became friends with Degas, Renoir and others and showed her work with theirs in the salons. She focused on painting women with children.
The Impressionists didn’t usually paint notable political figures, but in this case, an exception must have been made.
Degas was completely obsessed with ballerinas, and did many paintings of them. This one is interesting as more of a miniature.
Sisley is one of my favorites of the Impressionists. Here is a fine pastel example of his work.
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