To our left, a young woman sits facing us on a low stone wall at the base of the vertical, black bars of an iron fence and a young girl stands facing away from us to our right in this horizontal painting. Both have pale skin. The woman looks directly at us with dark eyes as she holds an open book, a closed red fan, and a sleeping brown and white puppy in her lap. Her long auburn hair falls down over her shoulders. Her navy-blue dress is accented with white piping on the skirt, collar, and sleeves, and has three large, white buttons down the front and her black hat is adorned with two red poppies and a daisy. The girl wears a sleeveless white, knee-length dress belted with a marine-blue sash tied in a large bow at her back. The girl’s blond hair is pulled up and tied with a black ribbon. She raises her left hand to grasp the bar of the fence she faces. A bunch of green grapes lies on the low wall to our right. A plume of steam fills much of the space beyond the black fence, which spans the width of the painting and extends off the top edge. A few details can be made out beyond the fence, including a stone-gray building with two wooden doors to our left and a bridge along the right edge.

Edouard Manet, The Railway, 1873, oil on canvas, Gift of Horace Havemeyer in memory of his mother, Louisine W. Havemeyer, 1956.10.1

Paris 1874 Exhibition Opening Day

Opening Day

Sunday, September 8, 2024
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Multiple Locations

Festivals
In-person

Join us to celebrate the opening of the exhibition Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment. View the exhibition and enjoy a curator talk, concerts, and a film screening. Registration required for these events.

Talks

Introduction to the Exhibition

East Building Auditorium, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Celebrate opening day of Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment with this overview by exhibition curators Kimberly Jones and Mary Morton. A signing of the exhibition catalog will follow in the East Building Concourse Shop. 

Please note that high attendance is anticipated. Seating is first come, first served; advance registration does not guarantee entry. A livestream of the presentation will be available online and in one additional location in the National Gallery.

Details & Registration

Art Films and Special Screenings

1874, The Birth of Impressionism

East Building Auditorium, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Join director Julien Johan and producer Stéphane Millière for a post-screening discussion, in person, after the US premiere on Sunday, September 8.

Produced on the occasion of the Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment exhibition and with the support of Musée d’Orsay and Arte Film, this new documentary takes a hybrid approach to the early story of that radical group of French painters known as the impressionists. Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Morisot, Degas, Sisley, and Pissarro are all represented through period scenes that dramatize key moments in their early careers, while a 3D rendering of the remarkable April 15, 1874, exhibition on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris allows viewers to experience the revolutionary paintings as they were first beheld. (Julien Johan and Hugues Nancy, 2024, French with English language subtitles, DCP, 90 minutes)

Details & Registration

Performances

L'esprit Parisien

West Building, West Garden Court, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Experience the sounds of Paris and imagine what might have been heard by viewers of the first Impressionist Salon in 1874. L’esprit Parisien will fill our garden courts with tunes familiar and surprising while you walk through the galleries on opening day of the Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment exhibition.

Between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m., listen for impromptu performances in and near the exhibition galleries featuring such musical favorites as “La Vie en Rose” and “Under Paris Skies”. At 3:30 p.m., enjoy a full performance in the West Garden Court by string quartet, accordion, and bass in works by Faure, Debussy, and Ravel—pivotal composers of this era—and other works with a Parisien flair.

Led by violinist Luke Wedge, L’esprit Parisien includes violinist Regino Madrid, violist Matthew Maffett, cellist Danielle Cho, bassist Jonathan Davies, and Frank Busso on accordion.

Details & Registration