In 2024, it is 150 years since Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1872, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris) stirred a critic to condescendingly write about ‘The Exhibition of the Impressionists’. This represented a major art-historical milestone: the ‘birth’ of Impressionism.
To celebrate this anniversary, the exhibition Vive l’impressionnisme! Masterpieces from Dutch Collections will be on display at the Van Gogh Museum from 11 October 2024 to 26 January 2025.
Impressionism
Artists including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley and Paul Cézanne used loose brushwork and bright colours to capture how they perceived light at a specific and changeable moment – an impression.
Their best paintings from Dutch public and private collections will be exhibited alongside Impressionistic pastels, sculptures, drawings and prints, also from Dutch collections.
To collect, or not to collect?
But when and how did these French artworks come to the Netherlands? And was the Netherlands ready to embrace a modern art movement from Paris?
The exhibition shows how the visionary mindset and resolute dealings of a number of individuals, including Theo van Gogh, resulted in a range of outstanding works making their way to the Netherlands. But which masterpieces slipped through the net, and how can this be explained?
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
The installation Boulevard of Broken Dreams showcases Impressionist masterpieces that could have become part of the national collection if other decisions had been made. The installation was designed by light artist Nick Verstand (1984).
