Impressionists in Winter

Effets de Neige

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This exhibition features 50 to 60 impressionist winter landscapes by Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin, Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin, Gustave Caillebotte, and Pierre-August Renoir drawn from private and public collections from around the world. Inspired by the Phillips Collection’s painting by Sisley, Snow at Louveciennes, 1874, this exhibition will shed new light on the technical, stylistic, and thematic evolution of snowscapes and effets de neige in impressionist painting. It also will trace the development of snowscapes in the careers of the above-mentioned artists. The impressionists painted hundreds of winter paintings, having been intrigued by the inherent challenges of painting a predominantly white subject and by the infinite combinations of color and light that could be explored. Yet, despite the extraordinary beauty and very special character of these paintings, the literature on impressionism accords the subject only modest attention. Impressionists in Winter: Effets de Neige offers the first in-depth survey of the subject. The included paintings, made from 1867 to 1893, comprise a wide range of winter scenes: from bucolic country settings to ice floes on the Seine; from the paths and roads of small villages to the boulevards and rooftops of Paris. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by prominent impressionist art scholars. It will include documentation, letters, and photographs pertaining to the impressionist winter landscape.

In a unique collaboration between art institutions, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is presenting this landmark exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in order to accommodate the large audiences that Impressionists in Winter is expected to attract. In exchange, the Yerba Center for the Arts will mount its winter/spring exhibitions at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, taking advantage of the opportunity to reach the regional audiences attracted by the Fine Arts Museums.

Sponsors

This exhibition has been organized by The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Currently on view