The Impressionist movement celebrates its 150th anniversary in the spring of 2024. To properly commemorate this event, the Musée d'Orsay will host a major retrospective of this artistic trend. This institution will also lend some of its masterpieces to about thirty museums throughout France. Here are the events not to be missed on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Impressionism.
It was in 1874, in Paris, that the first exhibition of Impressionist painters took place. These artists, initially called "the Batignolles group," painted en plein air along the banks of the Seine and prioritized color and light over drawing.
Their quick brushwork and innovative approach broke the academic mold. Rejected by the official Salon, 30 artists decided to organize their own exhibition in April 1874. They presented 165 works in the studios of the photographer Nadar on Boulevard des Capucines.
When a critic made a sarcastic comment about Monet's painting "Impression, Sunrise," they adopted the name Impressionists. The exhibition attracted only 3,500 visitors but it marked the birth of Impressionism.
150 years after this seminal event of the artistic movement, the Musée d'Orsay and the Ministry of Culture have joined forces to celebrate this anniversary in Paris, as well as in other regions and even beyond the borders of France.
Impressionist painters "changed the course of art history forever," according to the president of the Musée d'Orsay, Christophe Leribault. Their revolutionary painting style for the time paved the way for modern art.
The 150th anniversary of Impressionism is thus an event with international resonance. The Musée d'Orsay, which holds the world's largest collection of Impressionist works, could not miss such an opportunity to celebrate the art of Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, or Camille Pissarro.
For the occasion, the museum will organize no less than two highly anticipated events. The first is an exhibition titled "Paris 1874. Inventing Impressionism." It will run from March 26 to July 14, 2024, and will pay tribute to all the artists who, at that time, sought to break out of the academic framework.
In parallel, the Musée d'Orsay will offer an immersive virtual reality experience called "An Evening with the Impressionists. Paris 1874." Through this animation, the audience will be able to enter Nadar's studios on the evening of the opening of the first Impressionist exhibition! From that 1874 exhibition, we have no photographs. This reenactment, in which visitors are greeted by the painters themselves, required two years of research into contemporary documents.
In 1974, to celebrate the centenary of Impressionism, a single major exhibition was organized at the Grand Palais in Paris. For the 150th anniversary of this artistic movement, the celebration will be a national event and will extend to all four corners of France.
For the occasion, the Musée d'Orsay will lend no fewer than 178 works from its collections to 34 partner museums in 13 regions. Some works will also travel overseas or be loaned to the Villa Medici in Rome.
In mainland France, Impressionist works will be featured in provincial museums, from Tourcoing to Nice and from Le Havre to Bordeaux. The Lille metropolis is set to experience an Impressionist spring at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille and at La Piscine in Roubaix. The Museum of Impressionism in Giverny will of course take part in the festivities, with an exhibition entitled "Impressionism and the Sea."
As for the famous painting "Starry Night Over the Rhone," it will join the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in Arles and be exhibited just a few hundred meters from where it was painted!
To learn more about this 150th anniversary and the works loaned to museums near you, we invite you to visit the official website of the Musée d'Orsay (link below).
Author Audrey on 07 March 2023
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Author Audrey on 22 May 2023
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