From Monet to Van Gogh: A History of Impressionism

Course: From Realism to Impressionism – Modern Art in France

Explore the fascinating journey of 19th-century French art, marked by rivalries, revolutions, and the birth of Impressionism. This course dives into the cultural and artistic transformations that shaped Paris and the world, featuring great masters such as Ingres, Delacroix, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Caillebotte, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, and Van Gogh.

Program Highlights:

• The Realist and the Idealist – The clash between classicism, romanticism, and the rise of realism (32 min).

• Paris of Napoleon III – Modernization, railroads, and the transformation of the French capital (30 min).

• Baudelaire and the Definition of Modernism – Art as the expression of its own time (30 min).

• The Shock of the New – Manet’s revolutionary vision (30 min).

• Painters of Modern Life – Monet, Renoir, Degas, Sisley, Bazille, Pissarro, and Cézanne (30 min).

• Pierre-Auguste Renoir – The sensual and experimental genius (30 min).

• Impressions in the Countryside – The birth of Impressionism along the Seine (30 min).

• Paris Under Siege – The fall of the Second Empire and the Paris Commune (32 min).

• The First Impressionist Exhibition (1874) – Monet’s Impression: Sunrise and the birth of a movement (30 min).

• Monet and Renoir in Argenteuil – The golden age of suburban Impressionism (30 min).

• Cézanne and Pissarro in Pontoise – Seeking new artistic languages (30 min).

• Berthe Morisot – The pioneer woman of Impressionism (30 min).

• The Third Exhibition (1877) – The defining moment of Impressionism (30 min).

• Edgar Degas – The psychological and social modernism of Paris (30 min).

• Gustave Caillebotte – Patron, collector, and later recognized artist (30 min).

• Mary Cassatt – The American painter who shaped French modern art (30 min).

• Later Works of Manet – His adaptation to Impressionist innovations (30 min).

• Departures – Monet and Renoir moving beyond group dynamics (30 min).

• Paul Gauguin – From stockbroker to revolutionary artist (30 min).

• The Final Exhibition (1886) – Seurat, Pissarro, and the scientific turn in art (30 min).

• The Studio of the South – Van Gogh and Gauguin in Arles (30 min).

• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec – The bohemian chronicler of Paris (31 min).

• The Nabis – A new generation bringing Impressionism indoors (31 min).

• “La Fin” – Monet, Degas, and Pissarro’s series works in the 1890s (32 min).

Total Duration:

Over 12 hours of content divided into lectures of approximately 30 minutes each.