The renowned French visual artist Henri Matisse once claimed “Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.” And he might just be right, for the revolutionary movement which sprung up in the 19th century served to showcase the flourishing social advances and booming economic progress of its time.
This was best encapsulated in Impressionism: Pathways to Modernity, a lauded exhibit at the prestigious Louvre Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with the esteemed Paris-based Musée d’Orsay, a depository known for the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the entire world.
Touted as one of the most significant Impressionist demonstrations far from its home country France, it introduced — are you ready for this — a sterling selection of over 100 paintings, 40 sketches, and 20 photographs.
But first, let’s take a walk back into history.
The era was fresh from the coattails of the Industrial Revolution and perhaps the aftershocks of the Spanish Civil War and the July Revolution which toppled King Charles X of France, a conservative who favored old nobles. A group of like-minded France-based artists banded together and instead of boxed-in studio portraits, they wished to represent the world around them, far away from the clutches of art academics.
This artistic rebellion produced a brand-new approach to creation — with an emphasis on sunlit nature and the ever-changing lifestyle, plus technical innovations such as the railway and photography.
The result was the Impressionist Movement — a development where paintings became more free-spirited and genuine, nonconforming to the scholastic and aesthetic conventions then.
And thus, the Louvre Abu Dhabi aired the epitome of the objets d’art — some on loan, while others unveiled to the public just for the special occasion.
Here are some of our favorites:
There were various self-portraits of Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne and Camille Pisarro, plus a portrait of William Sisley by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Each of these snaps of still life included a brief biography of these great artists and their contributions to the beginnings of Impressionism.
An impactful piece was The Cup of Chocolate by Renoir. The model Margot is depicted as a young bourgeois woman with a cup of choco in hand in a luxurious pad. This was one which revitalized his campaign to gather new clientele, as the exclusive highbrow Salon dictated which artworks were worthy of purchase.
The Lady with the Glove by Carolus Duran, who was known for his high society images, featured his wife Pauline in a majestic black long gown, across a stark wall — a prime example of the minimalistic approach as he painted wealthy patrons in elegant attires. In fact, the painting was displayed alongside five dresses from that era!
The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage by Edgar Degas is actually divided into three similar in its compositional elements, yet distinct works of the same name. The trio likewise offers a behind the scenes peek into Parisian ballet rehearsals. This specific portrayal was a rather austere snapshot of a dancer as she scratches her back, while another yawns on the stage.
For our first illustration of nature, we spotted The Beach at Trouville by Eugène Louis Boudin. This specific masterpiece capitalized on the effects of light and atmosphere and how the overcast sky completes the image. He often paid great attention to the weather conditions whenever he was outdoors, and this was exemplified here to the extreme.
Another was The Hanged Man’s House by Paul Cézanne, popular due to its unique composition. With an eerie sense of solitude due to the absence of humans, it used broken and grainy brushstrokes with deliberate imperfect perspectives for the pathways to the riverbanks.
There was an extensive section dedicated to Claude Monet — a key founder of Impressionism and one of its most consistent practitioners. Suffice to say, he was foundational to the trend.
Among his displayed oeuvre were Women in the Garden, which was an oil painting in an outdoors setting. We soon learned this was distinct, as he had to dig up a trench to bury half of the canvas — so as to maintain the same point of view for the entire creation. This specific one troubled the aforementioned traditionalist Salon, due to its rather heavy brushstrokes — which eventually became a trademark of Impressionism.
The Hôtel des Roches Noires. Trouville showed a seaside resort during the eve of the Franco-Prussian War. His quick touches created an illusion of waving flags and flowing clouds.
The Magpie was another standout, as it outlined the commune of Étretat in Normandy. With a solitary black magpie perched on a gate, the sun rays formed blue shadows on the fresh morning snowfall — it was pointed out this was one of the first times shades were represented with colors other than black. In a winter setting, historians have claimed this was caused by the increased numbers of severe winters in France then.
Finally, our attention was entranced by two aquatic canvases. Argenteuil Painting was believed to be completed on a boat-turned-studio, wherein we could see Argenteuil on the left and the Orgemont hills on the right. We understood that with a toned-down palette, he enveloped the foreground with a light mist, while the water reflections took on the vivid colors of the sky — as well as elongated echoes of the ship masts, which caused public uproar due to Impressionism’s infancy.
Régates à Argenteuil, in the same setting, was perhaps a culmination of the movement — as it was finished two years before the official existence of Impressionism. We eventually found out about its distinct features: fragmented brushstrokes, fluidity of water and air and how these changed with the light. The guide went on about the utilization of tin paint tubes — which was only invented during the period — and portable easels, which further encouraged painters to finally step outside of their studios and into the world.
We could go on and on — because as you may recall, there were 100 paintings, 40 sketches, and 20 photographs. These were just some of the Impressionist triumphs which were hosted at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. As an old song goes: You’re not easy to forget.
