See Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise” in this once-in-a-lifetime Impressionist exhibition.
This exhibition, opening Sunday, shows the moment of birth of the Impressionist movement. Highlighting it is Claude Monet’s painting, which has never visited the United States before.
“Paris 1874: The Impressionist Movement” reunites paintings from the first Société Anonyme show 150 years ago. The Société, created by the artists themselves, allowed them to exhibit their paintings, which the official Paris Salon rejected.
Exhibited alongside the paintings from the Société Anonyme are the Academy-approved Salon paintings of that same year. This gives you a unique opportunity to see the moment of change for yourself.
125 modest-sized canvases fill the galleries, representing artists such as Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley, and Cezanne in this key moment in the history of Western art. It’s a journey into the beginning of modernism during a revolutionary period of time.
Animated video screens on either side of the gallery entrance pull you into the world of 1874 Paris. France was a defeated power searching for meaning, which they rediscovered through things like the arts and fashion.
The entry gallery is dark, representing the gas-lit gallery of 1874 and, as a result, letting the paintings themselves shine.
This exhibition isn’t just for art lovers. The paintings highlight creativity, history, war, and everyday life.
The works, collected from across the United States and France, are sure to draw a crowd. Put this at the top of your family’s list of what to see in Washington DC this fall.
To finish your visit, walk through the light-filled Impressionist gallery in the next gallery over. You’ll see first-hand how the initial Société show became the now-famous Impressionist Movement.
“Paris 1874: The Impressionist Movement” runs from September 8th, 2024 through January 19th, 2025. The National Gallery of Art is free and open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.
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