“Impression on the Water” is an exhibit of paintings and works on paper by French Impressionists Monet, Sisley, Caillebotte, Renoir and more. It is on display at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts through February 17th.
I’m sure that the reason this exhibit caught my eye is because I am currently reading “Claude and Camille. A Novel of Monet” as well as having just returned from a vacation where the color of the water is something I’m translating onto my pottery.
Here’s what I found out…
- This exhibit was organized by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco where it was on display in the Legion of Honor from June through October 2013. It was inspired by San Francisco’s hosting of the America’s Cup races in the summer of 2013. The artists whose work was included reflects their own understanding of pleasure boating and competition.
- During the exhibit in San Francisco, there was a lecture entitled “The Pursuit of Grace: My Life with Wooden Boats” by Robert Darr, Director and Head Instructor at the Arques School of Traditional Boatbuilding. From the website, I learned that “this talk explored the timeless appeal of traditional wooden boats like the ones depicted on the canvases of the Impressionist painters featured in the exhibition. It also examined the aesthetic elements that made the wooden boats of this period so appealing in general, and so inspiring to those who built and used them.”
- “This exhibition illuminates the importance that access to the sea and France’s extensive inland waterways played in the development of one of the world’s most enduring artistic movements.” Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.
- Claude Monet‘s “Boats Moored at Le Petit-Gennevilliers” 1874 (pictured above) was a gift to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco in the 1960’s from German-American Californian collectors, Bruno and Sadie Adriani.
- The Peabody Essex Museum is open Tuesday-Sunday, 10-5; the third Thursday of every month til 9pm; and, until 9 pm on Friday and Saturday, February 14 and 15 – more info can be found on their website.
- If you make the trip to Salem to visit the Peabody Essex Museum, there is a Members-Only Gallery Talk on “Impressionists on the Water” on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 9am. Reserve by January 28. Members pay $20.
…Art Exhibits present a wonderful opportunity to learn…
lisa w.b. walker 