Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

On View: West Building, Main Floor

134 artworks on view.

In the Omnibus [recto]

Mary Cassatt

1890-1891

Black chalk and graphite on wove paper Accession ID 1948.11.51.a

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M87

We look down onto a plaza with a sliver of a tall building rising along the left edge of the painting, a row of verdant, green trees to our right, and a row of buildings enclosing the space in the distance in this nearly square landscape painting. The peanut-brown building to our left nearly reaches the top edge of the canvas. It has three oversized, tall stories under a high, sloping roof with a slender chimney. A promenade with carriages runs in front of the tall building. In the plaza closer to us but tiny in scale, people gather in small and large groups, along the bottom edge of the composition. They are painted with dabs and short strokes of cobalt blue, butter and golden yellow, brick red, black, and white. The trees create a diagonal line running from the lower right corner into the scene, along the edge of the plaza to our right. Beyond the plaza and trees, the corners of a formal garden with sand-white walking paths stretch back to the row of buildings in the distance, which come halfway up the painting. That long line of buildings is painted with tones of light brown with rows of tall, narrow windows. The roofs are slate gray, and several cupolas and towers are spaced along its length. The buildings span the width of the painting and disappear behind the tall building to our left. Loosely painted, white, puffy clouds float across the ice-blue sky above. The artist signed and dated the work with brown paint in the lower left corner: “C. Pissarro. 1900.”

Place du Carrousel, Paris

Camille Pissarro

1900

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1970.17.55

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M89

The sculpture depicts a standing nude female figure with long golden hair cascading over her shoulders and down her back. Her arms are by her sides, and she stands upright, looking down and to the left. The material of the sculpture is dark, and her skin is a dark brown color. There are some small dots of gold on her torso and around her groin. The figure stands on a round base with an uneven surface.

Eve

Paul Gauguin

1890

Glazed ceramic Accession ID 1970.30.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M83

A row of structures and a massive weeping willow tree line the clay-orange riverbank opposite us in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is painted loosely with long, visible brushstrokes. Taking up much of the right side of the painting, the tree has emerald, moss, fern, and olive-green leaves with brown and purple trunk and roots. It casts long, gently rippling reflections in the water. The structures to our left are enclosed behind a terracotta-colored wall with a square tower. A second segment of wall, to our left, is charcoal gray. Trees grow up behind the structures. The sky above is painted with mingled strokes of lavender purple, baby blue, and white.

Banks of the Seine at Médan

Paul Cezanne

c. 1885/1890

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1970.17.21

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M84

Across a grassy field, a row of buildings and two trees line the horizon, which comes about halfway up this nearly square landscape painting. The field is painted with visible brushstrokes of sage, moss, and mint green as well as caramel brown, parchment white, and turquoise blue. The trees, to our left of center, are painted with dark green. The buildings have charcoal-gray or terracotta-red roofs with cream-white or slate-blue walls. The sky above is painted with dabs and strokes of ice and baby blue, with areas of pale peach and ivory white to suggest clouds.

Landscape near Paris

Paul Cezanne

c. 1876

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.103

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M84

A bearded man with a coppery-peach completion, wearing a dark, navy-blue brimmed cap, vest, jacket, and pants sits on a wooden bench or chair against a green background in this vertical portrait. The scene is loosely painted with thick, visible brushstrokes in kelly and shamrock green, deep, midnight blue, tawny brown, and charcoal gray to create a mottled effect. The man’s body is angled to our right and he looks in that direction. His legs are crossed and are cropped below the knees by the bottom right corner of the canvas. His fingers are interlaced in his lap with one thumb hooked between buttons on his vest. He has a long nose and his lips are closed. Touches of vibrant robin’s egg blue, sage green, pumpkin orange, and brick red enliven the dark clothing and shadows on the man’s features.

The Gardener Vallier

Paul Cezanne

1906

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1959.2.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M84

Woman Viewed from Behind (Visit to a Museum)

Edgar Degas

c. 1879-1885

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1985.64.11

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M89

Painted almost entirely in tones of topaz, lapis, and sky blue, the façade of a building abutting a waterway fills this horizontal painting. Brushstrokes are visible throughout and they blend to make the scene appear hazy. The top two-thirds of this painting shows the front of a building with two stories of rows of pointed, arched windows. Two long, low boats, gondolas, are pulled up side-by-side to one of the arched openings at the water level of the canal, to our right. A few touches of amethyst purple and mauve pink delineate some of the architectural features and shadows amid a field of denim and pale blue. The water below is painted with short, horizontal strokes to create a shimmering effect. The building’s reflection is captured with touches of emerald and cool green against the blue water. The artist signed and dated the work with cobalt-blue paint in the lower left: “Claude Monet 1908.”

Palazzo da Mula, Venice

Claude Monet

1908

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.182

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M80

Rue des Moulins, 1894

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1894

Oil on cardboard on wood Accession ID 1963.10.69

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M80

We look across a placid pond at sandstone-white buildings with brown and terracotta-red roofs nestled within a grove of green trees and plants in this vertical landscape painting. To our left, the brown roofs cover extensions to the main building, which has the terracotta roof. Between us and the buildings, the remains of a slate-gray wall are partially hidden by a vine or tree. The plants in front of the buildings are created with short daubs of yellow and green with touches of blue. The pond or other small body of water close to us spans the lower width of the canvas. The plants are reflected in the water's smooth surface. The trees to our right and behind the house have olive-green trunks stretching beyond the top edge of the composition. Their leaves blend together to fill the space next to and behind the house with a patchwork of shades of emerald, pine, and celery green. These greens are layered with short, angled strokes over smoother patches, and they fill the upper third of the composition. Patches of orange and a slice of azure-blue sky are visible among the leaves on the left side over the brown roofs. The artist has signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “P. Cezanne 73.”

House of Père Lacroix

Paul Cezanne

1873

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.102

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M82

We look across the water at two sailing ships with cream-white sails and dark rigging floating in a shimmering, ice-blue river against a distant shore lined with trees, hills, and buildings in this nearly square landscape painting. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and the ships’ masts and sails are silhouetted against a topaz-blue sky with wispy white clouds. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout so many of the details are indistinct. One boat floats near the left edge of the painting and the second is situated a little father back, to our right of center. Both have rust-orange anchors painted near the pointed bows, which face us. Tall, narrow, asparagus-green trees line the far riverbank between the boats. Tall spires and towers of buildings rise in a cluster to our left near that edge of the canvas, and boats cluster near the distant shore to our right. Oatmeal-brown hills rise beyond the trees and town. The trees and boats are reflected in the water, which is painted with horizontal dashes and squiggles. The artist signed the painting in the lower left, “Claude Monet.”

Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen

Claude Monet

1872/1873

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1970.17.43

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M82

This painting shows a riverside with a cream-colored bridge cutting horizontally across the scene in front of a bustling city. The bridge is decorated with flags that have stripes of red, white, and blue. Closest to us, at the bottom of the painting, large white barges are moored on the reflective blue river, with small people in white shirts floating nearby on wooden platforms. On the left, a pale gray path stretches along the side of the river, with some pedestrians walking on it. In the distance on the right, tall buildings are visible in shades of yellow, blue, peach, and cream. They have pointed roofs with many dark chimneys sticking up into the air. The sky above is blue and full of soft white clouds. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible, and details are suggested with dashes of paint, rather than illustrated clearly.

The Bridge of Louis Philippe

Jean-Baptiste-Armand Guillaumin

1875

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.155

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M82