Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

About two dozen men and women sit in straight-backed, wooden chairs gathered along a sandy expanse around pockets of water under a slate-blue sky that fills the top two-thirds of this horizontal landscape painting. Most of the people sit with their backs to us but the faces we can see suggest they all have light skin. The people gather in a loose crowd that crosses the left two-thirds of the composition. The women wear dark hats and long dresses with full skirts, their shoulders wrapped in shawls in black, red, dark yellow, or cream white. The men also wear hats, most of them black bowler hats, and suits in black or pecan brown. A few women hold up blue parasols in harvest gold, slate blue, teal, or gray. Two women and a man sit on the sand to the right. Three changing huts stand behind the group across the left half, and two brown horses stand at the water’s edge nearby. Three poles march into the distance to the right near where more people gather across a pocket of water. The artist signed and dated the lower right corner, “E. Boudin – 65.”

Bathing Time at Deauville

Eugène Boudin

1865

Oil on wood Accession ID 1983.1.8

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M82

The image shows an adult and an infant in a relaxed, intimate pose. The adult on the left holds the infant, with their heads close together. The adult appears to be kissing or nuzzling the child's face. The adult has styled hair in an updo and wears a floral-patterned garment. The unclothed infant is nestled against the adult's chest, with short dark hair. There are no visible accessories or jewelry. The background is plain.

Mother's Kiss

Mary Cassatt

1890-1891

Color drypoint, softground etching, and aquatint on japanese paper Accession ID 1943.3.2759

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M87

The image depicts a woman from the waist up. She is positioned slightly to the side as if she is seated and looking over her shoulder. Her hair is styled in a short, neatly combed manner that frames her face. She is dressed in a formal garment, possibly a dress, with her shoulders exposed. In her hands, she holds a large, ornate fan that partially covers the lower half of her face and chest. The background features a curved railing, indicative of an interior setting, possibly a theater or an opera house, with indistinct hints of people or decorations in the upper section.

In the Opera Box (No. 3)

Mary Cassatt

c. 1880

Softground etching and aquatint on japanese paper Accession ID 1946.21.80

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M88

We look across a river at a bridge that spans the center of this horizontal landscape, which is painted entirely with broad, visible brushstrokes in muted blue, pink, and brown. The straight deck of the bridge crosses the center of the composition but angles slightly away from us as it moves to our right. The four low arches of the bridge are ash brown on their face, and their curved undersides are cobalt blue. Marigold-orange and teal-blue marks on the deck above suggest traffic, and shell-pink smoke or steam billows over our side of the bridge. Three long, narrow forms in the water between and in front of the bridge pilings suggest boats. The sky above is painted loosely with icy blue and pale peach around the slate-blue silhouettes of buildings and smokestacks lining the far bank. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner: “Claude Monet 1903.”

Waterloo Bridge, Gray Day

Claude Monet

1903

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.183

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M80

The painting contains two full-body depictions of a man with dark skin in different postures and clothing, placed next to each other against a dark background. On the left, the man stands upright, holding a cane. He has a dark mustache and a red hat over his dark hair, and he is wearing a white tunic with a red detail on the chest, brown trousers, a sash, and red-and-gold footwear. On the right, the man is seated on a chair with his arm on the armrest, with his dark hair visible and a gold scarf over the same white tunic. The background is dark brown.

Two Studies of an Indian from Calcutta, Seated and Standing

Eugène Delacroix

c. 1823/1824

Oil on canvas Accession ID 2006.128.19

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M81

Six men on horseback and wearing jockeys’ uniforms line up on a grassy field in front of us in this loosely painted horizontal scene. The jockeys and horses’ features are especially freely painted so much of the detail is indistinct. The horses are all chestnut brown except for two at the middle, which are dark brown. One horse, second from our right, rears up on its hind legs, and one to our left nuzzles its neighbor. The riders all wear brimmed caps or helmets, white pants, and knee-high black boots. Their caps and high-necked shirts are painted in shades of goldenrod yellow, aquamarine blue, white, red, or peach. Their faces and hands are peach-colored or light brown. Some of the horses and the rider’s clothing are outlined in black. One of the riders is set a little farther back than the others. A black silhouette in the near distance to our right suggests a man wearing a suit and tall top hat. Swipes of black, brown, sky blue, and white create the impression of a crowd across from us, gathered on the far side of the grassy area. Light green fields continue back to a line of shamrock-green trees at the foot of gently sloping hills. White clouds screen the ice-blue sky above, which takes up the top quarter of the painting. The paint seems thinly applied in many areas, especially the horses and the grassy fields, so the weave of the canvas is visible under strokes of green and brown. The artist signed the lower right corner, “Degas.”

The Riders

Edgar Degas

c. 1885

Oil on canvas Accession ID 2014.18.7

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M83

A cleanshaven man wearing a black and red diamond-patterned costume and holding a white wooden sword tucked under one arm stands in a room with a blue background in this vertical painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes that make patches of mottled color. The man stands with his body angled to our right and seems to look down in that direction, though the dark eyes are loosely painted. His right eyebrow, closer to us, is a dark, curving arch. Touches of pink suggest rosy cheeks, and only a subtle swipe of pink suggests a mouth, which appears to be missing when seeing this work from afar. An arctic-blue cap curves widely down over the ears like an upside-down crescent moon. Some transparent swipes of black could be a lace or feather collar around the costume’s neckline. The hand we see, near the end of the sword, is oversized and painted in tones of fog blue and beige. The right foot steps in front of the left. He wears black shoes, and the toes are turned out. The wall behind the man is dappled with spruce blue, laurel green, and some touches of pinkish tan. A darker baseboard separates the wall from the floor below, which is made with patches of sky blue, rust red, pale pink, and olive green. The swag of a curtain, in shades of goldenrod yellow and muted teal blue, hangs on the wall behind the person’s head.

Harlequin

Paul Cezanne

1888-1890

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1985.64.7

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M84

Waterloo Bridge, London, at Sunset

Claude Monet

1904

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1983.1.28

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M80

This painting depicts a sandy beach under a vast, light blue sky. The horizon is in the center of the painting where the blue sky blends into the blue water. In the center of the painting, a group of women are on the beach, some standing and some seated. The women have light skin and wear clothing in shades of brown, dark blue, and red. They all wear headscarves covering their hair, mostly white except for one that is dark blue. Some of the women carry baskets, while others set them on the sandy ground. In the background, there are faint shapes near the shoreline created by small daubs of paint that suggest other people. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible, especially those that create the shapes of the women. Small details are suggested with dashes and dots of paint instead of being shown clearly.

Women on the Beach at Berck

Eugène Boudin

1881

Oil on wood Accession ID 1970.17.15

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M82

A pale turquoise footbridge arching over a pond lined with tall grasses and filled with petal-pink and butter-yellow waterlilies spans this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with touches of vibrant color. In the top third of the composition, the shallowly arched bridge nearly touches the top edge of the canvas, and it extends off each side. The shadows on the bridge are painted with eggplant purple. Bands of waterlilies gently zigzag into the distance on the surface of the water. The spring and emerald-green grasses growing along the banks fill the space around and over the pond, and they blend into a screen of trees beyond that enclose the scene. The green of the grasses and trees is reflected in the surface of the water, as is the underside of the bridge. The artist signed and dated the work with dark paint in the lower right corner: “Claude Monet 99.”

The Japanese Footbridge

Claude Monet

1899

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1992.9.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M85

Shown from the lap up, an older woman with pale, slightly sagging skin and frosty gray hair sits facing us in this loosely painted vertical portrait. Her body is angled very slightly to our right, and she rests one elbow across the back of the chair in which she sits. She has a round face with large, dark blue eyes, and she smiles. Her gray hair is pulled back under a black hat, which is topped with pale pink flowers. She wears a black coat over a high-necked, hunter-green garment and nickel-gray gloves. The chair is painted loosely with a red and green floral pattern against a white background, and the space behind the woman is parchment white.

Portrait of a Lady

Mary Cassatt

c. 1887

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1963.10.7

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M86

Two women with pale, peachy skin sit next to a table holding a silver tray and royal-blue tea cups and saucers in this colored, vertical etching and aquatint. Faint black lines outline the women, their features, clothing, and objects in the room, and each area is filled in a flat color. The women face each other and take up most of the composition. Both have oval faces, rounded noses, pale pink lips, and their hair is pulled up and back. The woman to our right has brown hair and leans forward as she holds up a blue plate with her right hand, closer to us. The other hand rests on the arm of her tawny-brown chair. Her dress has a petal pink bodice and long skirt with fog-white long sleeves and white fabric covering her chest and tucked into the low, rounded neckline. The other woman wears a blue cap over black hair. The hat has a celery-green feather and is tied in a bow under the chin. She wears a hip-length, charcoal-gray cloak over a pale, sage-green dress. She looks down at the plate and holds what might be a cookie or biscuit with one hand and a cup and a dish-like saucer with the other. Her lips are downturned and her head pulled slightly back to create a double chin. She sits upright in another brown chair. In the lower right corner of the sheet, the round gray table is barely bigger than the round gray tray it holds. On it are two more cups and saucers and a silver jug, presumably holding milk. What might be another cup and saucer set or the teapot is cut off by the right edge of the paper. The rims of the cups and saucers are painted gold. A very pale, mint-green screen with openings across the top stands to the left behind the second woman, and a window is behind the first. Spiky fronds of a houseplant angle up toward the sunlight and a coral-pink curtain is pulled to the left side. Squiggles and flowers printed in rust red suggest a pattern on white curtains covering the window and the pink curtain to the left. The wall behind the screen is straw yellow. The artist signed and inscribed the sheet under the lower right corner, “Imprimée par l'artiste et M. Leroy, Mary Cassatt (25 épreuves).” A tiny dark blue stamp with a short, wide C overlaid on a capital letter M is inked along the bottom edge of the image.

Afternoon Tea Party

Mary Cassatt

1890-1891

Color drypoint, softground etching, and aquatint with touches of gold metallic paint on laid paper Accession ID 1946.21.77

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M87

Bathing Time at Deauville

Bathing Time at Deauville

Mother's Kiss

Mother's Kiss

In the Opera Box (No. 3)

In the Opera Box (No. 3)

Waterloo Bridge, Gray Day

Waterloo Bridge, Gray Day

Two Studies of an Indian from Calcutta, Seated and Standing

Two Studies of an Indian from Calcutta, Seated and Standing

The Riders

The Riders

Harlequin

Harlequin

Waterloo Bridge, London, at Sunset

Waterloo Bridge, London, at Sunset

Women on the Beach at Berck

Women on the Beach at Berck

The Japanese Footbridge

The Japanese Footbridge

Portrait of a Lady

Portrait of a Lady

Afternoon Tea Party

Afternoon Tea Party

West Building

East Building

Sculpture Garden