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LANDSCAPES FROM THE AGE OF IMPRESSIONISM
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 Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), The Doge's Palace at Venice, 1908, oil on canvas, 32 x 39 in. (81.3 x 99.1cm), Brooklyn Museum, Gift of A. Augustus Healy
An audio guide for your cell phone is available for selected works in the exhibition. In addition to listening to the commentaries in the exhibition, you can listen online now or subscribe to the podcast versions. |
This exhibition of forty French and American paintings represents some of the finest examples of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century landscapes in the renowned collection of the Brooklyn Museum.
The earliest works in the exhibition, dating from the 1850s and 1860s, demonstrate the impact of progressive, plein-air sketching practices on French landscape painting. They include important imagery by Barbizon and Realist painters, such as Charles François Daubigny, Henri-Joseph Harpignies and Gustave Courbet. Heirs to this plein-air tradition, French Impressionists painted highly elaborated “impressions”—that is, the seemingly spontaneous, rapidly executed canvases that prompted the name of their movement. Featured in the exhibition are works by some of the most popular French Impressionists including Eugene Boudin (the subject of a monographic exhibition at VMFA November 2007-January 2008), Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. A particular highlight is Monet’s late, shimmering vision of a Venetian palace. Following in the footsteps of these French exemplars, many late nineteenth-century American painters found inspiration in the streets of Paris as well as the city’s rural environs. Atmospheric images by George Inness, Theodore Robinson, John Singer Sargent, and Julian Alden Weir are among the featured strengths of Brooklyn’s holdings. |
The exhibition also reveals how Americans selectively absorbed the high-keyed palette and broken brushwork of Impressionism when painting local subjects of leisure and labor. Many Americans continued to work in an Impressionist vein through the first two decades of the twentieth century. The ever-popular style continues to delight viewers today.
VMFA and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden are cooperating in a special offer for those who attend the Landscapes exhibition. Those who present a ticket stub from Landscapes will receive two admissions for the price of one to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. And those who present a ticket stub from the Garden will receive two admissions for the price of one to the Landscapes exhibition. Members of both VMFA and the Garden are eligible for this offer, which will expire May 1.
This exhibition is made possible by the Julia Louise Reynolds Fund, the Elizabeth S. Gottwald Endowment, the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Exhibitions Endowment, the Fabergé Ball Endowment, and The Council of VMFA.
Media sponsors: NBC-12 and Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Impressionism & Artful Accommodations
Overnight guest package at Richmond's Five Diamond Jefferson Hotel includes your choice of Superior or Deluxe accommodations, two passes to the Landscapes from the Age of Impression exhibit, complimentary transportation to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, full American breakfast buffet for two adults and complimentary self parking. Superior accommodations at $275 and Deluxe accommodations at $295. Taxes not included. Reservations: 1.800.424.8014 or book on line at www.jeffersonhotel.com.
RELATED EVENTS
Guided Tours
Docent-guided tours of Landscapes in the Age of Impressionism for students (grades 3–12) and adults available Wed–Sun, May 18, 2008. Fee: $10 per person (VMFA members $4; please phone for student group rates). For adult tours please phone 804.340.1596; for student tours, please phone 804.340.1419.ORGANIZER: Brooklyn Museum
CURATOR: Theresa A. Carbone, Andrew W. Mellon Curator, American Art; and Judith F. Dolkart, Associate Curator, European Art, Brooklyn Museum
VMFA COORDINATORS: Dr. Mitchell Merling, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art; Dr Sylvia Yount, Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Curator of American Art, Robin Nicholson, Associate Director for Exhibitions.
ITINERARY: Ringling Museum of Art, FL June 15 – September 16 2007
North Carolina Museum of Art, NC October 21 2007 – January 13 – 2008
VMFA, February 22-May 25 2008
Denver Art Museum, CO June 13 – September 7 2008
Portland Art Museum, ME October 19 2008-January 4 2009
ADMISSION:
Adults $8
Adult Groups (10 or more in one ticket purchase) $6
Students & Youth (individual, ages 13–18 or with full-time student ID) $6
Free to museum members, children (age 12 and younger; tickets required)
Members’ guests $7 (maximum 4 per day)
Student Pre-Scheduled Groups (10-16 students) $60
Student Pre-Schedules Groups (17-32 students) $120
For information on how to book a student guided tour for this exhibit, please see the School Tours page.
Beyond the First Impression—VCU Undergraduate Writing Project Inspired by Impressionist Paintings