Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

On View: West Building, Main Floor

127 artworks on view.

Shown from the lap up, a young woman with pale skin, rosy cheeks, dark eyes, and upswept chestnut-brown hair sits in an upholstered chair angled to our left and she looks in that direction in this vertical portrait painting. Light falls directly on her oval-shaped face, and she has a pointed chin and a straight nose. Her dark eyebrows are arched and though her eyes initially look dark as well, closer inspection reveals a sliver of silvery blue iris around the eye closer to us. Her full, pink mouth is slightly parted. She wears a brown, perhaps fur, shawl behind her shoulders over her long black dress. A few touches of rust red on the sleeve closer to us suggests a floral pattern but details are mostly lost in this dark area. She wears parchment-white gloves and her left hand, closer to us, appears to be tucked into a pocket or into a fold of her skirt so only the wrist is visible. She cups her opposite hand, perhaps cradling a small object. The fabric of the chair is painted with touches of burnt orange and ivory. Canary-yellow and white flowers dance around her head, presumably cascading from a vase on a table behind her. Most of the background, especially along the left edge, is painted with a field of stone blue but an area of loosely painted terracotta red above her head suggests a patterned wallpaper or more flowers.

Mademoiselle Malot

Edgar Degas

c. 1877

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.18

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M86

Six jockeys wearing colorful silks sit astride brown and black horses on a grassy field in this horizontal painting. Two more riders wearing top hats sit a bit farther back from the group, and two horses run on a grass track behind that. Five of the jockeys are together in the lower left quadrant. From left to right, they wear a black jersey with white sleeves, pink with black sleeves, black with sky-blue sleeves, emerald green, and canary yellow. The sixth jockey approaches from the right and wears white. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition, and the lawn is painted with blended strokes of spruce green and tawny brown. Three smokestacks belching smoke line the horizon, and three towers, two with spires, presumably represent a church in the deep distance to the left. Strokes of ochre yellow, beige, cream white, and brown represent houses clustered along the horizon. Lilac-purple-tinged clouds sweep across the watery blue sky above. The landscape is loosely painted with visible or blended strokes. The artist signed the lower right corner, “Degas.”

The Races

Edgar Degas

1871-1872

Oil on wood Accession ID 1942.9.18

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M82

A young woman with pale, peach skin wearing a white apron over an ankle-length navy-blue dress stands in a dining room in this vertical painting. The painting is created using loose brushstrokes throughout. The woman stands facing and looking out at us. Her auburn-brown hair is pulled up into a bun, and bangs sweep across her forehead. Her eyebrows are slightly raised, her deep pink lips are closed in the hint of a smile, and she holds her hands at her chest. Some details throughout the painting are indistinct because of the loose painting style but she might hold a mixing bowl. The high-necked bodice of the dress has buttons down the front, and the apron falls to mid-shin. A tall curio cabinet fills the space to our left and brushes the top edge of the canvas. It seems to be filled with white or silver serving pieces, and a white cloth is draped over one of the open cabinet doors below. A clock hangs on a wall over an oil lamp between the woman and curio cabinet. Light pours in through a tall window or French doors behind the woman to our right. Roughly painted forms suggest a house and landscape beyond. One chair is pulled up to a round table that is cut off by the right edge of the canvas. A decanter, perhaps glass, and bowl of peach and rose-colored fruit sit on the table. A small white dog with tan spots scampers at the woman’s feet near the chair. The artist signed the painting in brown in the lower left corner: “Berthe Morisot.”

In the Dining Room

Berthe Morisot

1886

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.185

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M87

We look across a strip of tall grass and flowers at a river that winds into the distance in this loosely painted, horizontal landscape. The lower half of the composition is a mass of tall wildflowers created with daubs of lemon yellow and white among vertical strokes of moss, laurel, and pine green. The river beyond is painted with horizontal dashes of arctic, denim, and cobalt blue. The horizon comes about two-thirds of the way up the composition and is lined with tall, narrow trees, trees with rounded canopies, and a blanket of green growth loosely painted and shaded with touches of blue. The sky above is painted with blended strokes of slate blue and cream white. The sky is paler to the right, suggesting sunlight breaking through some of the clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting with red in the lower right corner: “Claude Monet 80.”

Banks of the Seine, Vétheuil

Claude Monet

1880

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.177

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M80

A band of several galloping horses and riders move across the center of this vertical painting. The color palette is dominated by blended earthy brown, green, and pale pink. The horses, which have reddish-brown coats and tails, nearly span the width of the painting. They move to our left with their legs fully extended. Underneath the horses’ flying legs lies the body of a man. The felled rider faces upward, his eyes closed and his legs splayed. He has a light brown beard, mustache, and hair, and pale tan skin. He wears brown riding boots with black tops, white breeches, and a pink jersey with black sleeves. His riding helmet, with a matching pink cover, lies behind his head on the ground. At least three additional horses are in the band, and the two foremost have empty saddles. The two horses beyond them, farther into the picture, have male riders, who wear riding outfits and helmets in colors of smudged and blended orange, lavender purple, and green. They also have brown mustaches and beards. The band races through a field painted with a muddy green interspersed with strokes of orange and white. The horizon line is high, just above the level of the horses’ backs, about four-fifths of the way up the painting. Blue sky peeks out amid a mixture of pale pink and yellow clouds above. There are trees in the background indicated by a few strokes and dashes of paint. The painting style is loose and brushy throughout, without sharp detail or lines, except for the sketched-in black lines that delineate the bodies and tack of the horses.

Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey

Edgar Degas

1866, reworked 1880-1881 and c. 1897

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1999.79.10

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M83

Two sailboats and a rowboat float on a glistening, azure-blue river spanned by a stone bridge to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible strokes and dashes throughout so some details are indistinct. An area of asparagus and moss-green dabs creates a patch of grassy riverbank in the lower right corner of the painting. The rippling, sun-dappled surface of the river is created with short parallel strokes of pale pink, caramel brown, white, sage green, and light blue. An empty sailboat, with its sails tightly furled or removed all together, floats near us to our left of center. It has a single tall, pale wood mast. A similar pole rises from the bottom edge of the picture, presumably the mast of another ship below us or out of our view. Farther out on the water and to our left is another sailboat with full white sails catching the sunlight. The final vessel is loosely painted with a few swipes of goldenrod yellow, black, white, and pink to suggest two people sitting in a rowboat, one of them holding a pink parasol. The gray stone bridge is shaded on our side with denim blue along the faces of the four arches we can see. Several people, painted with a few touches of peach and black, stand at the railing. The bridge angles from near the upper right corner of the canvas to almost the middle of the composition, where it meets a narrow, three-story coral-pink and light gray building. A two-story, white building sits a short distance to its left. They bask in warm sunlight against a row of emerald and olive-green trees. A baby-blue sky scattered with puffy white clouds spans the upper half of the composition. The artist signed the lower right with dark red letters, “Claude Monet.”

The Bridge at Argenteuil

Claude Monet

1874

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1983.1.24

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M85

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

Meadow

Alfred Sisley

1875

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1970.17.83

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M87