IMPRESSIONISTS' FLOWER PAINTINGS

During the early years of their careers the Impressionists painted many still life paintings. Still life paintings were easy and inexpensive: no need to pay a model to pose. One of the Impressionists' favorite still life subjects was flowers. All of these paintings were part of the exhibition I recently saw at the National Gallery of Art, Frédéric Bazille and The Birth of Impressionism. The flowers are so beautiful you just want to pick them out of the paintings and smell them!

Claude Monet: Spring Flowers (1864)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Pansies (1874)

Gustave Courbet: Vase of Flowers (1862)

Édouard Manet: Peony Stem and Shears (1864)

Auguste Renoir: Still Life with Spring Flowers (1864)

And all these by Bazille himself:

Flowers (1870)

Vase of Flowers on a Console (1867-1868)

Potted Flowers or Flower Study (1866)

 
Young Woman with Peonies (1870)

In the next post I'll show more masterpieces from the exhibition Frédéric Bazille and the Birth of Impressionism, specifically more of the paintings by Bazille himself. 

The National Gallery of Art is located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets NW along Constitution Avenue. The entrance to the East Building is on 4th Street NW.

• Admission is always FREE.
• Open Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Open Sunday: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
• Closed on December 25 and January 1. 

All photos in this blog post were taken by me.  Unauthorized use is prohibited.

THE MELLON FAMILY PHILANTHROPY CONTINUED...

When Andrew Mellon decided to create the National Gallery of Art, he used the same "model" he used for business, but this time he used it for culture. He hired the architect to design the building, he supplied the monies to construct the building and a sizable endowment to maintain the museum, and he gave his own personal collection as the museum's founding gift. He supplied the resources for the museum to "get off the ground" and then left it for others to make it grow and get bigger. Two of those "others" were Mellon's children, Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce.

In addition to generous funding, Paul Mellon gave the National Gallery more than 1,000 works of art over the course of his life, including masterpieces by:

Cézanne...

Boy in a Red Waistcoat (1888-1890) by Paul Cézanne

Harlequin (1888-1890) by Paul Cézanne

The Bend in the Road (1900/1906) by Paul Cézanne

Antony Valabrègue (1866) by Paul Cézanne

Monet...

The Bridge at Argenteuil (1874) by Claude Monet

Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son (1875) by Claude Monet

Waterloo Bridge, London, at Dusk (1904) by Claude Monet

Interior, After Dinner (1869/1870) by Claude Monet

The Cradle: Camille with the Artist's Son Jean (1867) by Claude Monet

Degas...

The Dance Lesson (1879) by Edgar Degas

Woman Ironing (1876-1887) by Edgar Degas

Woman Viewed from Behind: Visit to a Museum (1879-1885) by Edgar Degas

Pissarro...

The Gardener: Old Peasant with Cabbage (1883-1895) by Camille Pissarro

Manet...

Plum Brandy (1877) by Edouard Manet

Gauguin...
Still Life with Peonies (1884) by Paul Gauguin

Landscape at Le Pouldu (1890) by Paul Gauguin

Breton Girls Dancing: Pont-Aven (1888) by Paul Gauguin

Te Pape Nave Nave: Delectable Waters (1898) by Paul Gauguin

Toulouse-Lautrec...

A la Bastille:Jeanne Wenz (1888) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Renoir...

Child with Toys: Gabrielle and the Artist's Son, Jean (1895-1896) by Auguste Renoir

What an amazing collection of paintings! Next blog post we'll see some of the masterpieces that Ailsa Mellon Bruce donated to the museum.

The National Gallery of Art is located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets along Constitution Avenue.

• Admission is always FREE.
• Open Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Open Sunday: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
• Closed on December 25 and January 1. 

All photos in this blog post were taken by me during my visit in September, 2013.

MORE MONET IN THE "MAGNIFIQUE" MUSEUM

The Musée d'Orsay is a world-class museum; of course, it is one of the top tourist attractions in Paris with a collection that rivals few other museums.

Ah, so many wonderful paintings by Monet!

Essai de Figure en Plein-air: Femme à l'Ombrelle Tournée vers la Gauche (1886)

The woman in the painting is Suzanne Hoschedé, daughter of Alice Hoschedé, Monet's second wife. 

La Cathédrale de Rouen; Le Portail, Soleil Matinal (1893)

The Rouen Cathedral series captures the façade of the cathedral at different times of the day and year, and reflects changes in its appearance under different lighting conditions. The Musée d'Orsay has at least 5 different paintings from Monet's Rouen Cathedral series.

Les Villas à Bordighera (1884)

Situated on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, Bordighera attracted Monet and Renoir in 1883 in their search for new landscapes.  Monet returned alone the following year, and painted more than 40 views of the area, the town and its gardens.

Coquelicots (1873)

Monet lived in Argenteuil from 1871 until 1878. These years were a time of fulfillment for him. Supported by his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, Monet found in the region around his home the bright landscapes which enabled him to explore the potential of plein-air painting.

Etretat : la Plage et la Porte d'Amont (1883)

And of course, Monet's Water Lilies and Giverny paintings:

Nymphéas Bleus (1916-1919)

Le Bassin aux Nymphéas, Harmonie Verte (1899)

Le Jardin de l'Artiste à Giverny (1900)

Le Bassin aux Nymphéas, Harmonie Rose (1900)

In my next post, I'll show you more of the beautiful permanent collection in this world-class museum including beautiful works by van Gogh.

For more information visit: http://www.musee-orsay.fr.

To get to the Musée d'Orsay, use:

Metro: Line 12 to Solférino
RER: Line C to Musée d'Orsay
Bus: Lines 24, 63, 68, 69, 73, 83, 84, 94

• Regular admission is €9.00.
• FREE with your Paris Museum Pass.
• There may be a charge for special exhibitions.
• Closed Mondays.
• Closed January 1, May 1, Christmas Day.
• Open 9:30-6:00 on Tuesday-Thursday.
• Open 9:30-9:45 on Thursday

NOTE: All photos of the paintings in this blog post were taken by me on my visit to the Musée d'Orsay in May, 2006.

ART IN A "MAGNIFIQUE" SETTING

I was watching the new Rick Steves episode on Paris, and I realized I had never done a blog post on my visit to the Musée d'Orsay.  WOW!  Me, a lover of Impressionist art, and I completely forgot about this museum.

The Musée d'Orsay was installed in the old Orsay railroad station and hotel which had been built for the 1900 World's Fair.  After 1939, the station's platforms had become too short for the longer trains that had come into service.  The station then was used as a mailing center during World War II and several times as a movie set. The hotel closed in 1973, and the building was threatened with demolition.  In 1975, the idea came about to install a new museum in the train station, and in 1977, the decision was made to create the Musée d'Orsay. The building was deemed a national monument in 1978 and the museum was officially opened on December 9, 1986.
 

I recently read on the museum's website that they have changed their policy regarding photography:

In the interests of the safety of works and visitors, and to ensure a more pleasurable visit, photography and filming are no longer allowed in the museum galleries. This measure has been introduced in view of the increased number of visitors taking photographs “at arm’s length” using mobile phones.

Luckily, my visit to Paris was in 2006 was when photography was still permitted.
Photos: www.musee-orsay.fr

The photos above (courtesy of the Museé d'Orsay website) show Gare d'Orsay.  Does it seem possible from my photo below that railroad tracks once ran through these galleries?

The beautiful ornate station clock still hangs in the same approximate place.

 

The idea of the Musée d'Orsay was to house works of art from the second half of the 19th century to 1914, basically bridging the gap between the Louvre and the modern art museum at the Pompidou Center.

Of course the Impressionists are a highlight.  Let's start with some painted before the term Impressionism was even coined.

You might automatically think Claude Monet when you first see this painting, but it was actually painted by a French artist named Armand Guillaumin.

Chemin Creux, Effet de Neige (1869) by Armand Guillaumin

  






























There are currently 88 works by Monet in the museum.  Here are some earlier works:

Régates à Argenteuil (1872) by Claude Monet

Le Déjeuner : Panneau Décoratif (1873) by Claude Monet

Le Dindons (1877) by Claude Monet

La Rue Montorgueil, à Paris. Fête du 30 juin 1878 (1878) by Claude Monet

Auguste Renoir was known more for his portraits, many of fleshly women, but look at this gorgeous landscape by him!

Chemin Montant dans les Hautes Herbes (1877) by Pierre Auguste Renoir

 
Of course, one of Renoir's early works is also one of his most beloved and Impressionism's most celebrated paintings.  The painting was part of the personal collection donated to the French government by French painter Gustave Caillebotte upon his death. Caillebotte was friends with the Impressionist painters, often purchasing their works to help them financially (he came from a wealthy family), but he himself did not paint in the Impressionist manner.

Bal du Moulin de la Galette (1876) by Auguste Renoir

Édouard Manet is considered a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.  This controversial painting by him was rejected by the jury of the Académie des Beaux-Art's annual Salon de Paris art exhibition in 1863 because of the realist nude portrayed.  Thus, he exhibited the painting later in the year in the Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Rejected).
Le déjeuner sur l'Herbe (1863) by Édouard Manet

Two years later Manet continued to shock audiences when he exhibited this painting at the Salon de Paris. This time it wasn't the nudity that shocked people, it was how Manet portrayed the model as an obvious courtesan, right down to the title: the name was associated with prostitutes in Paris during this time.

Olympia (1863) by Édouard Manet

Much less controversial is this beautiful portrait of his sister-in-law, Berthe Morisot.  Though she married Eugène Manet, it is widely suggested that Berthe Morisot had a romantic relationship with Édouard Manet prior to her marriage to Eugène.

 



































These are a few of the masterpieces hanging in the Musée d'Orsay.  In my next post, I'll show you more of the beautiful permanent collection in this world-class museum including beautiful works by van Gogh and later works by Monet.

For more information visit: http://www.musee-orsay.fr.

To get to the Musée d'Orsay, use:

Metro: Line 12 to Solférino
RER: Line C to Musée d'Orsay
Bus: Lines 24, 63, 68, 69, 73, 83, 84, 94

• Regular admission is €9.00.
• FREE with your Paris Museum Pass.
• There may be a charge for special exhibitions.
• Closed Mondays.
• Closed January 1, May 1, Christmas Day.
• Open 9:30-6:00 on Tuesday-Thursday.
• Open 9:30-9:45 on Thursday

NOTE: All photos of the paintings in this blog post were taken by me on my visit to the Musée d'Orsay in May, 2006.