Jun
This year is the 150th anniversary of the First Impressionist Exhibition, which took place in Paris in April 1874, and Musée d’Orsay are marking this with an exhibition.
The “Paris 1874” exhibition traces the beginnings of this artistic movement and reviews the circumstances that led these 31 Impressionist artists to join forces and exhibit their works together. This revolutionary group began to rethink their art and explore new directions, painting scenes of modern life, and landscapes sketched in the open air, in pale hues and with the lightest of touches. As one observer noted, “What they seem above all to be aiming at is an impression”.
Earlier this month, I made a point of visiting Musée d’Orsay in Paris to see this wonderful exhibition as my Impressionist Painting Course includes many of these paintings and artists, and I wanted to study up close their techniques, brushwork, and paint surface and application. My painting course explores the tools, techniques, methods and materials of eight of the most well-known Impressionist painters including Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Pissarro, Morisot, Cassatt, and Caillebotte.
Renoir’s The Swing is one of the paintings that we reproduce on this course, and as well as seeing it at Musée d’Orsay, I also visited the house that Renoir rented in Montmartre in the summer of 1876, where he painted this while working on his masterpiece, Dance at the Moulin de la Galette.
This exhibition runs from 14th March until 17th July, and is a must-see if you like Impressionist painting! Find out more on Musée d’Orsay’s website here.
