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The Movement
The ideas of Impressionism can be traced to the 1860s when Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and others pursued “en plein air” (painting in open air) together. John Rand’s radical invention of paint tubes allowed such a move. New bright, synthetic colors opened a new world for the painters.
In 1874, an expanded group of these painters took the art world by storm. Ignoring the Académie des Beaux-Arts’ Salon de Paris, (the official exhibition and influencer of the art world), this ragtag bunch pooled their money and their works, rented a studio, and set a date. Calling themselves the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Printmakers, they opened against the annual Salon in May 1874.
The art world, and our world, was forever changed.
Originally a pejorative term, Impressionism shook the art world to its roots. Critics said the works seemed unfinished and were just “impressions.” What they did not understand was that cameras could now capture the realism and the artist was freed to show us their own piercing perceptions.
Impressionism is considered the first modern movement in painting.
Over time, this style became widely accepted—even by the Salon—as the way to present modern life. Loose brushwork of unblended primary colors, short brushstrokes that often only outline that which they represent, and always, the impact of the light. Never simply black and white, shadows are rendered in highlights of color.
Impressionists strove to depict a specific moment in time by capturing atmospheric conditions—moving clouds, a ray of sun, a sudden fall of rain. And always the light—the light, illuminating, fading, flickering; their goal to make you see what they saw.
Lasting Impressions takes viewers into the works of some of the most famous names in art: Gaugin, Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Caillebotte, Cézanne, Renoir, Sisley, Seurat, Pissarro. These masterpieces are seen in an entirely original perspective.
Impressionism was spurred by technology: New, vibrant synthetic colors, paint in a tube and theadvent of the camera spurred and allowed artists to paint in a different way. Lasting Impressions capitalizes on technology as well to spur and allow audiences to see these works as never before.
The Artists
Lasting Impressions presents the works of fifteen of the world’s most famous artists.
Gustave Caillebotte (1848 – 1894)
Caillebotte is unusual in the pantheon of impressionist artists. Independently wealthy, he did not need to sell his paintings which had the ironic effect of cementing his obscurity. Still, he was a master painter obsessed with the City of Paris, often capturing the goings-on in the modern metropolis known as the geographic center of Impressionism. He is the only impressionist to serve as an artist, curator, financier, organizer, and patron of the movement.
Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906)
Cézanne is considered “The Father of Modern Art” not only because he painted in the Impressionist, Post-impressionist, Cubist and Modern styles, but also because his vivid colors, analytical brush strokes, and innovative approach to perspective led Picasso to call Cézanne “the father of us all.” While working closely and being exhibited with the impressionists, he developed a unique and recognizable style. His unique brushstrokes and colorful palette are on full display in Lasting Impressions.
Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917)
In much the same way Cézanne captured the landscape, Degas captured the ballet. “People call me the painter of dancing girls,” he once said. “It has never occurred to them that my chief interest in dancers lies in rendering movement and painting pretty clothes.” Yet Degas focused not on the glory of performance instead opting to reveal the simple moments and hard work of art. Much like a photographer (which he also became), he framed odd angles and unique perspectives to capture striking moments.
Henri Fantin-Latour (1836–1904)
Despite his association with the impressionists, Fantin-Latour was a traditional painter throughout his career. It is his portrait of Edouard Manet that brings him to Lasting Impressions. He is best known for his still-life paintings, particularly his exquisite flowers.
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
Gauguin came to art late in life, a thirty-something successful stockbroker when he became a student of Pissarro who invited him to join the impressionists. It took a stock market crash to convince him to join the artists full-time. He famously spent a summer en plein air with Vincent Van Gogh before turning his back on not only the current art world but the modern world altogether. He became associated with symbolism and primitivism and is often used as an example of ultimate artistic freedom.
Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
Like many of the impressionists, Manet was born into an upper-class family and his had high aspirations for Manet as a lawyer or military leader. After failing entrance exams twice, he enrolled in art school. His “alla prima technique” –successive layers of paint on a light ground–created energetic canvases whose opaque flatness and sketch-like passages changed the acceptable norms of painting. Manet weathered severe reviews and never achieved financial or critical success in his lifetime. He once wrote a friend, “They are raining insults on me. Someone must be wrong.” Could he have imagined his paintings now fetching upwards of twenty-six million dollars?
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Known as the “father of Impressionism” it was his Impression: Sunrise that gave the movement its name. Obsessed with the light, Monet learned to paint outdoors and quickly to capture its impact. Most people think of “waterlilies” as a painting but in fact, he created over 250 “waterlilies” to capture the effect of the light at different times of day. He not only painted them, but he also grew them(!), and the subject of these paintings were found in his gardens at Giverny. When asked, he surprisingly said, "My finest masterpiece is my garden."
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
Pissarro differed from his fellow impressionists in at least two ways: he preferred to live in the countryside away from Paris and he is the only painter to have exhibited in all eight impressionist exhibitions. He also chose to often focus on rural peasants and strove to show the dignity in their labor and lives. He continually sought our younger painters to work with (including Seurat) and his color theory had a “lasting impression” on them and the larger art world.
Jean Francois-Raffaelli (1850-1924)
Raffaelli had aspirations as an opera singer and actor before moving to painting in 1870. Degas introduced Raffaelli to impressionism and impressionists despite the reservations of others in the group and he exhibited with them only twice, in 1880 and 1881. He moved on to realism and created a specific style of it (caractérisme) striving to depict more than a simple moment in time so to understand the characters more fully.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Renoir once trained as an opera singer, eventually taking a job in a porcelain factory. Fortune found his father’s home next to the Louvre and when the porcelain factory closed, he turned to visual art. He became one of the most famous painters of all time, known for broken brushstrokes of complementary colors that exquisitely capture the light. Renoir’s subjects always seem to be enjoying themselves and he clearly enjoyed painting them. (Look carefully for his wife in the Luncheon of the Boating Party. She is in the left foreground with the dog.) Stricken with severe arthritis in his later years he painted through the pain. “The pain passes,“ he said, “the beauty remains.”
Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)
Rousseau was a post-impressionist known for his naïve or primitive style. He took an early retirement from the Army so that he could pursue his painting hobby full time and shortly after his death, was one of the most respected artists of the day. Often ridiculed by critics, he was admired and feted by some of the world’s greatest artists including Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh and Dali.
Georges Seurat (1859-1891)
Like several of the impressionists, Seurat was born into wealth. He is most famous for the technique of pointillism and for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte which made the technique famous. Pointillism uses dots of unblended primary colors side-by-side so that the eye does the mixing. The 10-foot-tall painting took two years to complete and now hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. It also inspired the musical, Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim. In it, George’s girlfriend, (played in the original by Bernadette Peters) is aptly named “Dot.”
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)
Sisley was likely the most dedicated to impressionism, rarely painting in doors or anything other than landscapes. Most artists moved on from impressionism after a time but Sisly remained an impressionist throughout his life and career. Consequently, his skills as an impressionist continually grew and he became known for his intense colors and the power of his expression. Like many artists, he struggled financially and his works became monetarily valuable only after his death. Several of his works were stolen by Nazis and have never been found.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)
Van Gogh is likely the most famous impressionist and masses have learned of him through Don McLean’s Starry, Starry Night, or from one of the many screen versions of his life in which he is portrayed by Kirk Douglas, Willem Dafoe, Benedict Cumberbatch and others (even Scorsese himself had a go of the role). He worked closely with Gaugin and it was after an argument with him that Van Goh cut off his own ear. Van Gogh struggled with mental illness throughout his short life (today he would likely be diagnosed as bi-polar) and died by suicide at the age of 37.
The Art
Lasting Impressions presents over 100 masterworks of Impressionist art. We share a few of the most famous ones here. A full listing of every work follows.
Gustave Caillebotte
Paris Street, Rainy Day
Portrait of a Man
Paul Cezanne
Madame Cezanne
Portrait of Anthony Valabregue
Young Italian Women at a Table
Edgar Degas
Ballet at the Paris Opera
Before the Ballet
Cafe Singer
Dancers at the old Opera House
Dancers Practicing at the Barre
Four Dancers
The Dance Class
The Dance Lesson
The Dance Lesson
The Dancing Class
The Rehearsal Onstage
The Star
Henri Fantin-Latour
Edouard Manet Portrait
Paul Gauguin
Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven
Edouard Manet
A Bar at the Folies-Bergere
Fishing
George Moore in the Artist's Garden
Musica en las Tullerias
Claude Monet
Argenteuil
Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare
Boulevard Heloise, Argenteuil
Cabin of the Customs Watch
Camille Monet on a Garden Bench
Etretat: The Beach and the Falaise d'Amont
Garden at Sainte-Adresse
Houses on the Achterzaan
ile aux Fleurs near Vetheuil
La Corniche near Monaco
La Grenouillere
Poplars (wind effect)
Regatta at Sainte-Adresse
Sunrise
The Green Wave
The Manneporte near Etretat
The Petite Creuse River
The Valley of the Nervia
View of Vetheuil
Water Lilies
Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect
A Cowherd at Valhermeil, Auverssur-Oise
Camille Pissarro
Rue de I'Epicerie, Rouen (Effect of Sunlight)
The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning
The Garden of the Tuileries on a Winter Afternoon
The Place du Havre, Paris
Jean Francois Raffaelli
Place de la Trinite, Paris
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando
Alfred Sisley
Etude de brodeuse
Jean as a Huntsman
La Famille Henriot
La Promenade
La Sortie du conservatoire
Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Monsieur Charpentier
Pont Neuf, Paris, 1872
Portrait of Mademoiselle Marie Murer
Seascape
Two Sisters
Henri Rousseau
Le Canal
Sawmill, Outskirts of Paris
The Banks of the Bievre near Bicetre
Georges Seurat
Entrance of The Port of Honfleur
Horse and Boats
Two Sailboats at Grandcamp
Alfred Sisley
The Road from Versailles to Louveciennes
Vincent Van Gogh
Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase
Farmhouse in Provence
Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy
Flower Beds in Holland
Girl in White
Green Wheat Fields, Auvers
House and Figure
Irises
Landscape
Le cafe de nuit
Olive Trees
Orchard Bordered by Cypresses
Portrait of Van Gogh
Road in Etten
Self Portrait
Self Portrait
Self-Portrait
Self-Portrait with Straw Hat
Square Saint-Pierre, Paris
Starry Night Over the Rhone
Sunflowers
The Bedroom
The Drinkers
The Large Plane Trees
The Poet's Garden
The Poplars at Saint-Remy
The Potato Eaters
The Starry Night
Wheat Field with Cypresses
The Music
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Debussy: Symphony in B Minor : II. Un poco lento, cantabile
Jun Marki, Orchestra National De Lyon
Ravel: Ma mere I’oye, M 62. Apotheose. Le jardin feerique
Leonard Slatkin, Orchestre National De Lyon
Debussy: Petite Suite, L:65 1. En bateau
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray
Debussy: Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103: Danse profane
Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Lavinia Meijer
Debussy: La demoiselle elue, L. 62
Claudio Abbado, London Symphony Orchestra
Debussy: Deux Arabesques L. 66: No. 1 Andante con moto
Zoltan Kocsis
Vincent
Adam Fisher
To The Stars - From "Ad Astra" Soundtrack
Air Lyndhurst Orchestra, Ben Foster
Ce sera moi
Nana Mouskouri
Non, je ne regrette rien
Edith Piaf
Hier Encore
Charles Aznavour
Dappled Light
Jess Gillam Ensemble
Under Paris Skies
Emile Pandolfi
The Musicians
If only two names could be associated with Impressionism, they would likely be the painter Monet and the composer Claude Debussy. While Debussy would bristle at the label, he is the best known of the “impressionist composers.” Like Monet, he was obsessed with color, referring to one of his works as “an experiment in the different combinations that can be obtained from one colour.” Like all impressionist artists, he thought older modes (in his case, the symphonic form) outdated and changed the course of his art (music) forever.
Joseph Maurice Ravel was also inextricably linked to impressionism and was considered France’s greatest living composer. Like all impressionists, he was not highly regarded by the arts establishment and chose to blaze his own path. Ravel was a proud member of Les Apaches (The Hooligans) who proudly championed the work of Debussy. Interestingly, though both were considered preeminent “impressionists” Ravel thought the label applied only to Debussy.
Charles Aznavour’s career spanned 7 decades and 1200 songs in nine languages. One of the most popular singers in France, his distinctive tenor voice can be heard on nearly 200 million albums sold, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. Though an Armenian, he was dubbed a “French pop deity” and called “The French Frank Sinatra.”
Adam Fisher is one of the great rising tenors of his generation. At home in opera, Broadway, pop and rock, Adam is a versatile musical talent that performs to rave reviews. Reviewers called his tribute to Van Gogh, ‘Vincent’ with the Utah Symphony “The most powerful moment of the night.” He is also featured in the Princeton Entertainment Group’s production, America’s Wonders.
Nana Mouskouri is the most successful female artist in history, selling in excess of 350 million recordings around the world. Called Europe’s answer to Barbara Streisand, Nana has recorded over 200 albums in 12 languages. In France, she is considered one of the greatest singers of our lifetime, receiving four awards from the government of France, including the highest honor bestowed on an artist and the highest honor bestowed on a non-French citizen. Her fluency in multiple languages allowed her to create hits all over the world. In 2015, she was awarded the echo Music Prize for outstanding achievements. Her tours are greeted by sold out audiences from Seoul, Korea to Santiago, Chile. Nana was appointed a UNICEF ambassador after the untimely death of Audrey Hepburn and served as a member of the European Parliament representing her home country of Greece.
Edith Piaf is likely France’s most famous international star. Despite desperate circumstances throughout her life including a youth of poverty, a four-year blindness, the deaths of many dear to her including a husband and a child, and, a life of alcohol abuse, Piaf rose to international stardom. Numerous books and films have been written about her life and music and she is considered “France’s National Chanteuse.”
Max Richter stands as one of the most prodigious figures on the contemporary music scene, with ground-breaking work as a composer, pianist, and collaborator. From synthesizers and computers to a full symphony orchestra, Richter’s innovative work encompasses solo albums, ballets, concert hall performances, film and television series, video art installations and theatre works. He is Classically trained, studying at Edinburgh University, the Royal Academy of Music, London, and completing his studies with composer Luciano Berio in Florence.
Jess Gillam is animating the music world with her outstanding talent and infectious personality, bringing classical music to new audiences through both her world-class live performances and her work on television and radio. Jess is passionate about inspiring and bringing joy to people through music. In May of 2020, Jess appeared as a special guest at the Royal Albert Hall’s VE Day 75 Commemoration and in July, she returned for a performance as part of the ‘Royal Albert Home’ series. The Jess Gillam Ensemble contains a dynamic group of close friends performing an electrifying range of music carrying Gillam’s passion and morals forward.
Emile Pandolfi has more than half a billion streams across platforms including Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music, and ranks among America’s most popular piano artists. Although the majority of his performance repertoire is lush, intricate arrangements of Broadway and pop standards, his influences are, in fact, more classical than pop. It is this subjective layering of classical style, which Pandolfi infuses into the broad palette of his performance selections, that continues to resonate with audiences everywhere.
