Happy Anniversary, Impressionism!

Just in time for your Memorial Day travels, here’s an extended episode celebrating the anniversary of Impressionism! We take another look at three of the originals: Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Berthe Morisot. Her painting “The Mother and Sister of the Artist” is featured in the upcoming blockbuster “Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment” opening Sept. 8 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Find out more on their site.

Here are the three works we’ll be looking at today:

SHOW NOTES
Opening theme: “Easy” by Ron Gelinas https://youtu.be/2QGe6skVzSs

Episode Music:
OFFENBACH CAN-CAN by Light Symphony Orchestra; Offenbach
https://archive.org/details/78_offenbach-can-can_light-symphony-orchestra-offenbach_gbia0309744b

EPISODES 
Monet–Grainstack
Show notes and transcript
https://alonglookpodcast.com/grainstack/

Pissarro–Place du Carrousel
Show notes and transcript
https://alonglookpodcast.com/place-du-carrousel-by-camille-pissarro/

Morisot–Mother and Sister of the Artist
Show notes and transcript
https://alonglookpodcast.com/the-mother-and-sister-of-the-artist-by-berthe-morisot/

EXHIBITIONS
“Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment” National Gallery of Art (Sept 8-Jan. 19)
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2024/paris-1874-impressionist-moment.html

“Mary Cassatt at Work” Philadelphia Museum of Art (May 18-Sept. 8)
https://press.philamuseum.org/mary-cassatt-at-work/

“The Impressionist Revolution from Monet to Matisse” Dallas Museum of Art (thru Nov. 3)
https://impressionistrevolution.dma.org/p/1

SUGGESTED READING
“Luncheon of the Boating Party” by Susan Vreeland
https://bookshop.org/p/books/luncheon-of-the-boating-party-susan-vreeland/11716075?ean=9780143113522

TRANSCRIPT

Hello and welcome to a special extended episode of A Long Look! I’m your host, Karen Jackson. 

2024 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Impressionism! So to celebrate, I decided to pull together episodes about three of the OI, original impressionists– Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Berthe Morisot. 

Stick around to the end to find out about some of the special anniversary exhibitions, including a blockbuster coming to Washington DC. 

MUSIC

You know, it’s funny. Impressionism is SO popular and has been for a long time. It’s interesting to go back and look at how it was first received. Let’s just say, it was a mixed reaction.

The first Impressionist exhibition was held in Paris in April 1874 and some of the critics were pretty rough. One guy, Louis Leroy, invented a sarcastic dialogue between two visitors looking at Monet’s “Impression Sunrise.” One of them says, “Impression I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it — and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! A preliminary drawing for a wallpaper pattern is more finished than this seascape.”

And another singled out Morisot by describing the artists as “five or six lunatics—among them a woman—a group of unfortunate creatures.” 

The group did a great PR jujitsu though and said, “Ok, you’re gonna make fun of us by saying we paint impressions?? Then, fine, we’ll call ourselves Impressionists!”

The movement came out of an incredibly turbulent time in Paris. The city was rebuilding and rediscovering itself after a brutal siege, the collapse of its government and a civil war. Trains had become a thing, letting city dwellers escape to the country for the day. Wide boulevards lined with elegant buildings had replaced the dark cramped medieval streets and literally opened up new possibilities. 

Artists started looking at what had been done up til then and decided it was time for something different. An art that celebrated real people living in real places here and now instead of some ancient past. An art that lived and breathed…  

Monet

Our first look is at Claude Monet’s “Grainstack” from The Minneapolis Institute of Art! It was part of my virtual road trip season back in 2021. The almost psychedelic colors and vibrating brushwork are classic examples of his wild innovations. Transcript: https://alonglookpodcast.com/grainstack/

Pissarro

Next is the luminous “Place du Carrousel” by Camille Pissarro from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Pissarro is often called the Father of Impressionism because of his pioneering techniques and generous mentoring of young artists. Transcript: https://alonglookpodcast.com/place-du-carrousel-by-camille-pissarro/

Morisot

Finally, is “The Mother and Sister of the Artist” by Berthe Morisot, also at the National Gallery. It was painted a few years before the Impressionist exhibition but shows how she was already experimenting with the radical techniques learned from her male colleagues combined with her audacity of putting real women and their lives front and center. Transcript: https://alonglookpodcast.com/the-mother-and-sister-of-the-artist-by-berthe-morisot/

The anniversary is being celebrated with a lot of special exhibitions this year. The big one is “Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism” at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris til July 14. It’ll come to DC in September when it opens at the National Gallery with a slightly different title, ”Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment” and runs through January 2025. 

There are also shows at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Dallas Museum of Art, I’ll put links in the show notes. 

MUSIC

OUTRO:

Well, I hope you enjoyed this anniversary roundup! I’m really looking forward to the Paris 1874 exhibition at the Gallery opening Sept. 8. And if you come to town for that, definitely make time to see Renoir’s big, beautiful “Luncheon of the Boating Party” at the Phillips Collection!

Speaking of which, if you want a great summer read about all this, try the terrific novel “Luncheon of the Boating Party” by Susan Vreeland. It was a big inspiration for this episode!

As always, thanks for joining me!