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Van Gogh Museum

150 Years of Impressionism

Once upon a time in Paris, from 1673 to 1879, there was the Salon, a series of curated blockbuster art exhibitions that were the talk of the town. Sadly for the impressionists, its juries were not at all impressed with their work, and rejected the vast majority of their paintings. In 1874, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro & Cézanne therfore decided to hold their own exhibition, at Atelier Nadar, which opened just two weeks ahead of the Salon of 1874 and which showcased the work of 31 like-minded artists. One of the paintings on display was Monet’s Impression, Sunrise, which indirectly gave the movement its name, when art critic Louis Leroy coined the term in a derisive review titled L’Exposition des impressionnistes, suggesting that the paintings in the exhibition were mere impressions and not finished works of art.

In celebration of 150 years of impressionism, the exhibition Vive l’impressionnisme! is being hosted by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and it is brimming with French masterpieces from Dutch collections. It shows how the visionary mindset & resolute dealings of a number of people, including Vincent’s brother Theo van Gogh, resulted in a range of outstanding works making their way to the Netherlands. Highlights include Monet’s View of Amsterdam, Poppy Field, The Fisherman’s House at Varengeville, La Corniche near Monaco, and Tulip Fields near The Hague, as well as Route de Versailles, Rocquencourt by Pissarro, Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, Morisot’s Walk in the Woods, An Orchard in Spring at By by Sisley and Cézanne’s Landscape near Aix with the Tour de César. The exhibition runs until 26 January 2025.

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Louis

The impressionists were not the only ones to be refused a place in the Salon. In order for the public to view the works that had not been accepted by the jury, Emperor Napoléon III ordered a second exhibition to take place parallel to the official Salon of 1863, the Salon des refusés, which featured paintings such as Whistler’s fairly suggestive The White Girl & Manet’s outright shocking Luncheon on the Grass and which triggered enormous controversy. Because the impressionists didn’t want their 1874 exhibtion to be seen as another Salon des refusés, they made sure that it didn’t coincide with the official Salon.