Impressionism was born 150 years ago this year. To celebrate this anniversary, the Van Gogh Museum is organising an exhibition featuring the finest Impressionist artworks from Dutch collections. But how did these French artworks arrive in the Netherlands?
Collecting
What you collect always says something about your taste, your identity and the time in which you live. This applies to individuals, but also to museums and even to countries. In the Netherlands, we collectively refer to all publicly accessible art and heritage collections as the ‘Collectie Nederland’, or the Dutch Art Collection. Over the years, the founders and curators of these collections have made important decisions. Which artworks should be acquired? Which not?
Impressionist landscapes are well represented in the Collectie Nederland, but work by female Impressionists is severely lacking. And we do not have a painting by Degas within our borders. But before turning to this in more detail later in the Special, first a little more about French Impressionism:
Both of these works were painted in 1881. Lef an example of A Hague School painting by Anton Mauve, Homeward Bound, 1881, The Mesdag Collection, The Hague.
An example of French Impressionism by Claude Monet, Poppy Field (Champ de coquelicots), 1881, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, acquired with the collection of D.G. van Beuningen. Photo: Studio Tromp
Impressionism in the Netherlands
Impressionism arises in Paris, and it is a long time before it captures the hearts of the critical Dutch. Hardly surprising, as in the 19th century, many people have a nationalistic perspective of the world.
Why should people in the Netherlands be interested in that strange French art when we have the Hague School within our national borders? A movement that lets the Dutch landscape shine in soft shades of grey. In comparison, Impressionism is too brightly coloured. What’s more: the colours are applied to the canvas in loose brushstrokes, instead of with smooth colour transitions. The paintings are too sketchy, and don’t appear to be finished. And the Impressionists even choose contemporary, often everyday subjects...
All told, it is too unconventional for the taste of many critics and the established art world in the Netherlands. And yet there are several progressive art lovers such as Theo van Gogh and Helene Kröller-Müller who recognise the potential of this new style, and acquire Impressionist art. It’s thanks to them that Impressionism is now, after all, represented in the Collectie Nederland.
Claude Monet, La Corniche near Monaco, 1884, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, gift of M.C., Baroness van Lynden-van Pallandt, The Hague, 1900
Impressionism in France
It’s not only in the Netherlands that people are disinterested in Impressionism, or even shocked by it. Also in its native country of France, the new art movement is initially not welcomed with open arms. This is not surprising when you consider that Impressionism comes into being as a form of resistance.
Artists like Claude Monet , Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley and Paul Cézanne want to innovate and push the art forwards. They feel excluded by the established order in the art world. Their artworks are repeatedly rejected by the Salon, the only annual exhibition presenting new art. The Salon is organised by the government, which decides what is on show, who wins the awards, and what is acquired.
Because the Impressionists are constantly rejected, they cannot access the art market nor present themselves to the public at large. But the innovators are thankfully stubborn enough to find a solution: they organise their own exhibition!
The first Impressionist Exhibition
This exhibition opened on 15 April 1874 in Paris, marking the birth of Impressionism. What the exhibiting artists all have in common, is that they translate a personal perception of atmosphere and light at a specific moment into colours and brushwork. Consider fleeting moments like a rainbow appearing above fields, or a group of people involved in a lively discussion on a Paris terrace.
Camille Pissarro, The Rainbow, Pontoise, 1877 Kröller-Müller , Museum,Otterlo , Photo: Rik Klein Gotink
The Impressionists are deliberately unconcerned with capturing a landscape or portrait as realistically as possible, as the lens of a camera does; they want to depict their unadulterated personal impressions. The majority of the Impressionists also don’t care whether an artist uses watercolours, makes a pastel drawing, or a painting or sculpture. These forms are all art in equal measure, and are given a place in the exhibition.
Next episode
In the next episode, we’ll focus on Vincent van Gogh and Impressionism. What did he think when he saw this innovative art for the first time? And how did the work of the Impressionists influence his own work?