French Impressionism: Seven works of art shouldn’t miss at NGV’s latest hit exhibit
Melbourne art lovers are in awe of the NGV’s latest exhibition French Impressionism, which features more than 100 works from icons including Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
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Melbourne art lovers are in awe of the NGV’s latest exhibition French Impressionism, which features more than 100 works from icons including Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
And while one of the knockout features is the circle-shaped room that features 16 Monet masterpieces, there are a number of notable pieces around the exhibit that Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Dr Katie Hanson and NGV curator Dr Ted Gott, an NGV curator think it’s worth keeping your eye out for.
Seven works you won’t want to miss according to …
MFA Boston curator Katie Hanson
Dance at Bougival by Pierre‐Auguste Renoir
Renoir evokes “all our senses” in this joyful painting, Hanson says – those who fully immerse themselves can almost hear the music playing, smell “discarded cigarette butts (and a) bouquet of flowers”, taste the “partially drunk beers” and feel the dancers’ touch.
Depictions of Victorine Meurent: Self-portrait by Meurent, portrait and Street Singer by Édouard Manet
“Jill of all trades” Meurent was Manet’s favourite model, a former cancan dancer and an artist in her own right, and Hanson says these three works reflect several different sides of her. The self-portrait is notably a new addition to the exhibition since it was last here in 2021.
Abbeville and River view by Frits Thaulow
Thaulow’s works are a “surprise” hit of the exhibition, Hanson says, noting the Norwegian artist and friend of Monet “paints the like rippling surface of water so beautifully”
NGV curator Ted Gott
Grand Canal Venice by Pierre‐Auguste Renoir
A product of Renoir’s travels to Venice and Florence in 1881, to “study the works of Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo” and advance his own paintings, Gott considers this “one of my favourite works in the show”.
Edge of the Woods (Plain of Barbizon near Fontainebleau) by Théodore Rousseau
For Gott, this painting evokes “a great story about artists not only loving nature, but (getting) large parts of it saved”. Rousseau convinced Emperor Napoleon to declare Fontainebleau “the world’s first national park – saving it at a time when trees were being felled and stone being quarried to build Baron Haussmann’s Paris”.
Fruit displayed on a stand by Gustave Caillebotte
This work reflects its “millionaire” painter’s wealth, Gott says: “(Poorer Impressionists) Renoir, Monet and Pissarro could not relate to (this painting’s subject) because Caillebotte is showing a high-end fruit display … in a very wealthy part of Paris. Each piece of fruit is individually wrapped, sitting on a little piece of tissue paper.”
Garlic seller by Jean‐François Raffaëlli
Another new addition to the exhibition, this painting is a standout by little-known artist Raffaëlli – a close friend of Degas who documented “the hardship that was behind the glamour” of Paris.
See French Impressionism at NGV International from June 6 to October 5.
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