Impressionism

Impressionism is a style of painting that helped redirect art toward personal expression and artistic process. The movement originated in and around Paris in the late 19th century. Impressionists had stylistic differences, but they shared an interest in accurately capturing modern life and the fleeting effects of light and color.

On this page: Selected Works, Featured Stories, In the Galleries, Artle, and Educator Resources.

Selected Works

From low on a hillside, we look up at a light-skinned woman and boy standing in tall grass against a sunny blue sky in this vertical painting. The woman stands at the center of the composition, and the moss-green parasol she holds over her head almost brushes the top edge of the canvas. Her body faces our left but she turns her head to look at us. Her long dress is painted largely with strokes of pale blue and gray with a few touches of yellow. Her voluminous skirts swirl around her legs to our left. She holds the parasol with both hands, and her brown hair is covered with a hat. Long strokes of white paint across her face suggest a veil fluttering in the breeze. The tall grass she stands in is dotted with buttercup yellow and plum purple, and she casts a long diagonal shadow along the grass toward us. The young boy seems to stand on the other side of the hill, since the grass and flowers comes up to his waist. He wears a white jacket and pale yellow straw hat. His arms are by his sides, and he seems to look off into the distance to our left. A sunny blue sky behind the people is dotted with bright blue clouds. The painting is created with loose brushstrokes throughout, and they are especially choppy in the clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting in royal-blue letters at the lower right: “Claude Monet 75.”

Impressionism

Claude Monet, Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.29

We look down on a few dozen people walking along the sidewalks of a wide, sunlit bridge in this almost square painting. The scene is loosely painted, which gives it a hazy, sun-dappled look and makes some details indistinct. The people wear black, white, light blue, or pale green jackets and pants or long dresses as they walk in all directions. Some wear hats, and a few women carry parasols. The bridge opens into a wide boulevard close to us, as the sidewalks angle into the lower corners of the composition. Several horse-drawn carriages move across the bridge alongside the people. The deck of the oyster-white bridge is lined with black gas lamps. The river beneath shimmers with lapis and turquoise blue. The far side is packed with four and five-story buildings, which are mostly tan with rows of windows painted as blue rectangles. The rooflines bristle with chimneys. Another structure or boat sits on the water near the lower right corner of the painting, and a flag with vertical bands of red, white, and blue flies from a flagpole there. Opposite the flag, on the far bank, is a statue of a man on a horse, both on a tall plinth. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and the azure-blue sky above is dotted with puffy white clouds tinged with dove gray and mauve. The artist signed and dated the lower left, “A. Renoir. 72.”

Impressionism

Auguste Renoir, Pont Neuf, Paris, 1872, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.58

A small brown dog and a pale-skinned little girl wearing a white dress sit in matching celestial-blue armchairs in this horizontal painting. To our right, the girl sits with her legs angled to our left. She slumps back with her legs spread, and her left elbow, on our right, is bent so that hand rests behind her head. Her other elbow is draped over the armrest. Her dark brown hair appears to be pulled back, and tawny brown eyes under faint brows gaze down and to our left. She has a small nose set in a round face and a coral-pink mouth closed in a straight line. Her white dress has touches of gray, soft pink, and powder blue with a wide plaid sash around her waist. The pine-green, black, and sapphire-blue sash is accented with overlapping vertical and horizontal lines of burnt orange, light blue, and mustard yellow. Her socks match her sash and come up to mid-calf, over black shoes with silver buckles. The small dog has scruffy black fur and a russet-brown face. It lies curled in the chair opposite the girl, to our left, with its eyes closed and ears pricked up. The rounded backs of the upholstered chairs curve down to become the low arms. The vivid and light blue fabric of the chairs is scattered with loosely painted strokes of avocado and forest green, peach pink, cherry red, plum purple, and white. Beyond the chairs closest to us is another armchair and an armless loveseat, both covered with the same fabric. They sit at the back of the room, in a corner flooded with silvery light coming through four windows on the right side. The furniture is arranged on a peanut-brown floor. The artist signed in the lower left, “Mary Cassatt.”

Impressionism

Mary Cassatt, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.18

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.”

Impressionism

Berthe Morisot, In the Dining Room, 1886, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.185

Painted in mostly in jewel tones of topaz and aquamarine blue, and sage, spring, and pine green, a meadow is enclosed by a wooden fence, against a landscape of gently rolling hills under a vibrant sky in this horizontal painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes. Touches of white, cotton candy-pink, ruby-red, and azure-blue paint in the long grasses close to us could be wildflowers. A few swipes of straw yellow and pale and lapis blue could represent two people, standing and kneeling, in the field close to the fence. The rickety fence starts at the right edge of the canvas and extends into the distance, angling away from us to our left. Rolling hills beyond are a patchwork of emerald green and caramel brown, and are dotted with trees with full, dark green canopies. One brown building sits on the crest of a hill to our right of center. The horizon comes about halfway up this picture, and the turquoise-colored sky is dotted with white puffs of clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner, “Sisley 75.”

Impressionism

Alfred Sisley, Meadow, 1875, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.83

Shown from the thighs up, a boy wearing a crimson-red waistcoat stands against swags of fabric painted with visible strokes in white, sky blue, harvest yellow, and sage green in this loosely painted, vertical portrait. Painted with choppy brushstrokes, the boy has pale, ivory-white skin, blushing pink cheeks, pursed lips, faint eyebrows, and topaz-blue eyes that gaze down to our right. His shoulder-length, dark brown hair is tucked behind one ear under a brown wide-brimmed hat. His red waistcoat is worn over a long-sleeved, slate-blue shirt. The collar of his skirt is slightly flipped up on his right side, to our left, and a swipe of cobalt blue suggests a tie or scarf between the lapels. A band of sapphire blue could be a belt above olive-green trousers, and dashes of navy blue create shadows. His right hand, to our left, is planted on that hip. The other arm hangs straight and loose by his side, those fingertips almost brushing the bottom edge of the canvas. The boy’s body is outlined in dark blue. The drapery behind him falls in folds that sweep gently to our right. The background is painted with patches and swipes of cool blues and greens, and pale golden yellow. One swag of the drapery, over the shoulder to our left, is painted with a loose pattern suggesting leaves. One back post and a sliver of the curving back of a wooden chair peeks into the composition in the lower left corner.

Impressionism

Paul Cezanne, Boy in a Red Waistcoat, 1888-1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1995.47.5

Sculpted with rich brown wax, a young ballerina stands with her arms straight, hands clasped behind her back, and one foot in front of the other on a square wooden base. Her body is angled to our left in this photograph. Both feet are splayed outward, and her right foot is placed far in front of her left. Bangs cover her forehead, and she has a heart-shaped, upturned face with a squat nose and slightly pursed lips. Her heavy-lidded eyes are nearly closed and her hair is pulled back and tied with a wide, cream-white ribbon. She wears a fabric costume with a sleeveless, gold-colored bodice, a gray tulle skirt, and ballet slippers. Her body is sculpted from dark brown wax, and a layer of wax covers her hair, bodice, and ballet slippers.

Impressionism

Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1878-1881, pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton faille bodice, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.80.28

An older man with ruddy, peachy skin stands in the lower right of this vertical painting holding a large, green, leafy cabbage. He is shown from the hips up and faces our left with his body angled slightly toward us. His head tilts down with his mouth open to gaze at the vibrant green cabbage held tightly in both hands. Fringes of gray hair sprout from under his peanut-brown, short-brimmed cap, and gray stubble frames his open mouth. His cheeks are hollow but he has a fleshy double chin. The collar of his white shirt is visible at the neckline of his long-sleeved, tan jacket. The jacket is covered by a seafoam-green apron touched with short strokes of navy-blue, teal, peach, and pine-green paint. He stands against several rows of round cabbages and other indistinct olive-green objects that might be more vegetables stacked up beyond him. The very top of the composition is filled with a band of tightly speckled mauve, peach, and white, with a few flecks of blue and green. The artist signed and dated the lower right with red paint, “C. Pissarro 1883-95.”

Impressionism

Camille Pissarro, The Gardener - Old Peasant with Cabbage, 1883-1895, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1994.59.6

Holding a bunch of peonies in one hand, a woman with brown skin leans forward, toward us from behind a large basket holding dozens of flowers in this horizontal painting. The basket holding the flowers spans the width of the canvas, and the woman is shown behind it from the chest up. She wears a cream-white, long-sleeved blouse with scalloped trim around the high neck. She wears coral-red earrings, and a plaid cloth in tones of rust red, slate blue, pale purple, and black is tied tightly over her black hair, which is visible over her ears. Her brow is slightly furrowed, and she looks at us with large, dark eyes. Her full mouth is closed, the corners faintly downturned. She reaches her right arm, on our left, toward us with a bouquet of three pink-and-white peonies and greenery. Her basket is filled with yellow and red tulips, pink roses, white and purple lilac, and other white, pink, yellow, and blue flowers, and it takes up the bottom third of the composition. The woman and basket are shown against a dove-gray background. The artist prominently signed and dated the work with red letters near the upper right corner, near the woman’s head: “F. Bazille. 1870.”

Impressionism

Frédéric Bazille, Young Woman with Peonies, 1870, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.6

We look slightly down into a lime-green and white rowboat carrying a woman holding a baby and a man in this nearly square painting. The man wears midnight-blue shoes, pants, jacket, and soft, floppy cap. He sits with his back to us, bending forward to row the boat, which is cropped by the bottom edge of the canvas. The left side of his ruddy face is visible over his left shoulder. The woman and baby both have pale skin. The woman and baby sit across from the man, facing us to our left in the bow. The woman’s long-sleeved, sky-blue dress is crosshatched with pink lines. The baby leans back in the woman’s arms, and wears a pink dress, blue socks, and brown shoes. The wide-brimmed hats on both the woman and baby are painted pale celery green. They gaze toward or just past the man. The corner of the boat’s sail, also painted pale green, is pulled taunt by the wind to our left. Azure-blue water surrounds the boat up to the high horizon line, which brushes the top edge of the painting. The shoreline in the distance is lined with trees and dotted with white houses with red roofs.

Impressionism

Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party, 1893/1894, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.94

We look slightly down onto the surface of a river in which three narrow canoes, each paddled by a single person, are being rowed toward us in this horizontal landscape painting. The rowers wear white shirts rolled up to the elbows, light blue pants, and straw-yellow, wide-brimmed hats pulled down over the eyes. They sit in the bottom of their boats with legs extended and the handle of the double-bladed paddle straddling the boat over their laps. The canoe closest to us comes almost directly toward us, angled slightly to our right as it cuts through the surface of the river, its tip extending off the bottom edge of the canvas. The second canoe is a couple of boat lengths behind and to our left of the closest canoe. The third is small in the distance, near the horizon that comes three-quarters of the way up the composition. The back end of a fourth canoe and a single paddle extends into the scene from the right edge of the canvas. The butter-yellow paddles are reflected in the pale sage green and sky blue of the river’s surface. The river is lined on both sides with lush trees and vegetation, which fills the top quarter of the painting above the horizon.

Impressionism

From high up, we look down and out at a river with seven ferries and barges, the waterway lined with buildings on the bank to our right, in this loosely painted, horizontal landscape. Dashes of muted blue, fern green, and tan create the rippling surface of the river, which fills most of the bottom half of the painting. A dark tugboat chugs out of the scene near the bottom center of the composition, and the other vessels create diagonals along the river, angled down toward the bottom right corner. Closer to us in the lower left corner of the painting, a platform edge with a railing juts out to or over the water. At least six people stand on the platform alone or in pairs. They are loosely painted with touches of black, gray, yellow, plum purple, and peach. The platform itself is painted with swipes of sky blue, oatmeal brown, butter yellow, and rose pink. Each person creates a reflection in the surface of the platform, suggesting it is wet, perhaps with rain. The spiky branches of a row of trees along the far side of the platform are sharp against the landscape beyond. The buildings on the far bank are several stories high and lined with windows. Buildings farther in the distance have triangular rooflines or domes, which become slate blue along the hazy horizon. An arched bridge with a flat deck spans the river about halfway back along the river as we see it. In the top half of the picture, fog-gray and cream-white clouds fill the sky with patches of hazy powder blue showing through. The artist signed and dated the painting in sable brown in the lower left corner, “C. Pissarro. 1900.”

Impressionism

Camille Pissarro, The Louvre, Afternoon, Rainy Weather, 1900, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Edward C. and Mary Walker Collection), 2014.136.59

A pale-skinned young girl with blond hair, wearing a blue dress, stands in a garden in this vertical painting. The girl and background are painted with blended strokes, giving the scene and especially the girl a soft look. She faces our right and stands in the middle of the composition. Her shoulder-length cloud of hair is topped with a red bow, and long bangs frame her round face. Under faint brows, her sapphire-blue eyes look to our right. She has a petite nose, and her coral-pink mouth turns up in a slight smile. Her cobalt-blue dress is trimmed with wide, blue-white lace on the neckline, across the bottom hem, and down the front to either side of a row of white buttons. The white edges her petticoats come down to just below her knees, peeking out from under the flaring skirt. She wears white socks over blue ankle boots, which also have a row of white buttons down the side we can see. Her near hand is raised with her index finger hooked in the handle of a green watering can, and she holds two daisies by her side in her other hand. She stands on a path flecked with ivory white, pale purples, greens, and pink that curves up and to her left. A bush with emerald and pine-green leaves dotted with pink blooms fills the lower left corner. Behind her, green grass runs back to meet a profusion of pink, purple, and poppy-red plants and flowers that run along the top edge of the composition. The artist signed and dated the lower right, “Renoir. 76.”

Impressionism

Auguste Renoir, A Girl with a Watering Can, 1876, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.206

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.”

Impressionism

Claude Monet, The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.24

A woman stands on a sun-dappled path, which runs past a bank of blooming flowers and back to a cottage in this vertical painting. Close to us, the bush fills the lower right quadrant of the composition, where coral-pink and golden yellow dahlia blossoms flare like fireworks from among deep, spruce-green foliage. Sunlight from our left casts long violet-purple and steel-blue shadows across the white path, which runs parallel to the left edge of the canvas alongside a strip of trimmed lawn. In the near distance, the woman looks down at something in her hands at her chest so the brim of her hat angles down. She wears a pale blue jacket or blouse and a long, azure-blue skirt. A small black dog with wiry fur stands near the woman and looks at us. A greenhouse with a rounded, mint-green roof sits lengthwise on our right. Several windows are tipped open on the bottom half of the structure. Hedges of white, laurel-green, and peacock-blue flowers and bushes grow between the woman and the greenhouse. The house at the end of the path has a terracotta-orange roof, pale peach stucco walls, and dark orange shutters. Dense canopies of trees nestle each side of the house, and above, puffs of white clouds float against a watery, turquoise-blue sky. The artist signed and dated the painting in green in the lower left, “G. Caillebotte, 1893.”

Impressionism

Gustave Caillebotte, Dahlias, Garden at Petit Gennevilliers, 1893, oil on canvas, Gift of the Scharffenberger Family, 2016.48.1

Shown from about the waist up, a young woman wearing white sits in an armchair cuddling a brown and black striped cat in this vertical painting. The scene is painted with blended brushstrokes, giving it a soft look. The wall behind them is seafoam green, and the edge of a yellow floral curtain lines the left edge of the canvas. The woman’s body is angled to our right and she looks at the cat with dark eyes. The woman’s light brown hair is pulled up, and her pale skin is accentuated by rosy cheeks. Her bare arms enfold the cat, held upright against the left side of her body so its head rests against her cheek. She supports the cat’s upper body with her right hand, on which she wears an emerald ring. The cat’s lower body nestles into the crook of the woman’s left arm. Its paws are extended and its head pulled back. The white and blue tones of the woman’s short-sleeved dress and kerchief tied around her neck contrast against the muted burgundy-red of the armchair behind her. To our right, behind the woman, vibrant, loose brushstrokes in red, orange, green, violet, and white could be a floral arrangement.

Impressionism

Auguste Renoir, Woman with a Cat, c. 1875, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin E. Levy, 1950.12.1

Shown from the knees up, a young girl with pale skin, wearing a coral-peach dress, sits facing and looking at us in this loosely painted, vertical portrait. Her knees are angled slightly to our left, and her hands rest in her lap. She has a round face and smooth, lightly flushed cheeks. She has brown eyes under arched brows, a delicate, snub nose, and her rose-pink lips are closed. Her hair, which is painted with broad strokes of caramel brown and moss green, is parted on one side and pulled smoothly back, presumably tied behind her head. Tendrils fall over her shoulders. Her dress is gathered around her neck and tied with a bow at the back. The loose sleeves fall to just below her elbows, and the dress is belted around the waist. A curving swipe of canary-yellow paint could be a buckle at the front. The fabric of the dress is painted with long, visible strokes of shell and rose pink, butter yellow, and ivory white, and a few touches of sage green and periwinkle blue for shadows. She wears a ring on the middle finger of her right hand. The space around her is loosely painted with strokes of electric and cobalt blue, with unpainted canvas visible at some of the edges. To our left, over the girl's shoulder, a wooden bird cage holds an emerald-green parakeet. The bird is streaked with royal blue along its back, and the area around its hooked beak is apple red. The cage has a mint-green bow and ribbon along the top. The artist signed the painting in green on the lower right corner: “Berthe Morisot.”

Impressionism

Berthe Morisot, The Artist's Daughter with a Parakeet, 1890, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.50

A long, brightly lit room is filled with at least nine young ballerinas in robin’s egg-blue dance costumes and pale pink shoes in this wide, horizontal painting. They all have light skin and brown or dark blond hair. The studio is lit from the left, and more light pours in through two windows toward the back. The wall closest to us is mint green with brown wainscoting covering the lower half, and a small mirror hanging a short distance down the wall. The walls of the space farther from us and the scuffed, worn floor are both painted with tan layered with washes of moss green and denim blue. A dancer in the lower left faces us and sits near a cello lying on the floor. The instrument’s curved upper body and neck emerge from the tutu near her left hip, on our right. She leans forward with her right arm, on our left, draped across her lap, and she rests her head on the other hand, propped up on her elbow. We look slightly down on her so only see the top of her head and the point of her nose. She wears a red jacket with her ice-blue, knee-length tutu spread around her. Her splayed feet are cropped by the bottom edge of the canvas. In the center are two dancers, one seated and the other standing. The seated girl is perched on a wooden chair with the back of her tutu draped over its top. She also wears a petal-pink jacket dotted with darker mauve. She gazes at the girl in front of her. That girl stands with her back to us, bowing her head slightly as she adjusts the bow of her emerald-green belt at the small of her back. At least six more dancers sit or stand along the far wall, in the upper right corner of the composition. One looks down at her tutu spread wide between her hands, and another holds a canary-yellow fan up to her face. The features of this group are loosely painted, making them indistinct. The artist signed the lower right, “Degas.”

Impressionism

Edgar Degas, The Dance Lesson, c. 1879, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.6

A woman bends double to tend a garden that stretches before us in front of two houses in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is painted with short, visible brushstrokes with a palette dominated by spring, pine, and celery green and earthy tan, peanut, and chestnut brown. Touches of canary yellow, pale pink, coral, and ruby red suggest sunflowers, roses, and other flowers. The woman wears a long, steel-gray skirt and a long-sleeved olive-green shirt. Her brown hair is bound up, and her face and hands, indicated with only a few short swipes of paint, are pale peach. She stoops over a light green patch to our right of center near a bundle of sticks or a group of tall dried stems, to our right. Leafy greens have been planted in rows to our left. Across from us, beyond the cultivated rows, masses of flowers grow in a band that nearly spans the width of the composition. Beyond, a gray stone house with a dark gray roof and a second brick red roof rise above the plants and trees. The pale blue sky above is dotted with cotton-white clouds. The artist signed and dated the work with dark paint in the lower left corner: “C. Pissarro 1989.”

Impressionism

Camille Pissarro, The Artist's Garden at Eragny, 1898, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.54

An ice- and powder-blue sky swirled with faint peach takes up the top two-thirds of this landscape painting. A farm, field, road, and fence lie beyond the snow-dusted, spiky branches of a tree jutting into the scene from the lower right corner. The road extends from the bottom left corner into the distance near the left edge of the canvas. The fence cuts across the space closer to us, and the snowy field beyond reflects the cool blues of the sky. The pale green and peanut-brown farmhouse and buildings are topped with pale blue, snow-covered roofs. Dark forms near the road in the distance could be a person or a person and child, and two more people lean into the wind alongside the buildings to our right. The artist signed the lower left corner, “Sisley.”

Impressionism

Alfred Sisley, First Snow at Veneux-Nadon, 1878, oil on canvas, Donated by Lolo Sarnoff in memory of her grandfather, Louis Koch, 1983.98.1

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.”

Impressionism

Paul Cezanne, House of Père Lacroix, 1873, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.102

A small child stands facing us on a sun-dappled path that runs up the center of a garden dominated by towering yellow and burnt-orange sunflowers in this loosely painted, vertical scene. The light comes from our right so long, sea-green and plum-purple shadows cross the peach-colored path. The path is wide at the bottom center of the canvas and narrows as it reaches the steps of a house, beyond the garden. Close to us, four blue and white porcelain urns line the path, separating it from the grassy banks to either side. The urns are filled with tall stems with coral-pink and cardinal-red flowers. The child stands about halfway back along the path, where the garden transitions from grass to the banks of tall sunflowers. A few strokes in front of the child could be a small dog. Behind the child, a woman and another child stand on the steps. The woman wears a cornflower-blue and white dress, while both children have bare legs and wear white clothes and yellow hats. All three have indistinct facial features and peach-colored skin. The house spans with width of the composition. It has an amethyst-purple roofline with two chimneys, and the petal-pink walls have mango-yellow highlights. Windows are covered with blue latticework. Above the house, fluffy white clouds float against a vibrant blue sky. The artist signed and dated the painting at the lower right in dark blue, “Claude Monet 80.”

Impressionism

Claude Monet, The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, 1881, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.45

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