Monet's Paris, 1867
1. Saint Germain l’Auxerrois, 1867, Oil on canvas. Alte Nationalegalerie. 1906 gift from the bankers Karl Hagen and Karl Steinbart, Berlin, AI 984.2. Garden of the Princess, Louvre, 1867. Oil on canvas. Allen Memorial Art Museum. R. T. Miller Jr. Fund, 1948.296.3. Quai du Louvre, 1867. Oil on canvas. Kunstmuseum Den Haag. Bequest Mr. and Mrs. G.L.F. Philips-van der Willigen, 1942, 0332453.
Haussmann and the Making of Modern Paris
Like many European cities, Paris was once comprised of countless narrow, dark, winding streets. During numerous political uprisings (in 1789, 1830, and 1848), revolutionaries used Paris’s medieval streets to their advantage, erecting makeshift defensive barricades against royal and imperial forces. This changed during the Second Empire (1852–1870) when Emperor Napoléon III hired Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann to reenvision Paris as a great imperial city. Napoléon’s plan was twofold: to bring modern technology and amenities to the city and to widen and regularize city streets. This not only encouraged the flow of commerce but, more importantly, helped imperial troops suppress political revolts. The “Haussmannization” of Paris brought clean water, modern sewers, and gas lanterns to illuminate the streets—making the fast-growing city much safer. Haussmann also added scenic parks, theaters, and chic shops; regularized the façades of administrative buildings and apartments; and constructed better hospitals, asylums, and prisons. As much as this improved Paris for many, it also displaced the working class and pushed the most vulnerable people to the outskirts of the city. In addition, Haussmann’s radical gentrification cloaked everything in dust and debris for nearly 20 years. While some artists in this exhibition celebrate the myth of modern Paris as the “City of Light,” others, like Honoré Daumier and Charles Marville, show a different side of Haussmann’s Paris.
The First Impressionists
For young French artists in the mid-19th century, entry into the annual government-sponsored exhibition known as the Salon was the only place to establish their reputations and gain favor with critics and patrons alike. A favorable Salon review could launch an artist’s career. By the 1860s, however, the Salon jury had grown increasingly conservative, rejecting artworks that deviated from a polished, academic style. In 1874, Claude Monet and Edgar Degas established the Société Anonyme des Artistes, holding an exhibition at the former studio of photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (called “Nadar”). The exhibition included works by about 30 artists including Monet, Degas, Eugène Boudin, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. Thanks to a satirical review of the exhibition, published by critic Louis Leroy in Le Charivari, called “Exhibition of the Impressionists”—inspired by Monet’s painting, Impression, Sunrise—the term “Impressionism” was coined. As the movement evolved, Impressionism came to be associated with broad painterly brushstrokes, flattening of pictorial space, and attempts to capture the fleeting quality of light.This exhibition features work by many of the major artists who participated in the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874, and also highlights the contributions of other artists—like Mary Cassatt, Johan Barthold Jongkind, and Marie and Félix Bracquemond—who also played important roles in the development of Impressionist art.
