Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Jeunes filles au piano (Young Girls at the Piano) 1892 Oil on canvas, 116 x 90 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris In the early 1890s, friends and admirers of Renoir took exception to the fact that the French State had…
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903) Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Whistler’s Mother 1871 Oil on canvas, 144.3 x 163 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Although an American by nationality, Whistler divided his career between London and Paris. He enrolled in…
Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877) L’Atelier du peintre (The Painter’s Studio) 1854–1855 Oil on canvas, 361 x 598 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris The enormous Studio is without doubt Courbet‘s most mysterious composition. However, he provides several clues to its interpretation: “It’s the whole world…
Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877) Juliette Courbet 1873–1874 Oil on canvas, 81 x 65.5 cm Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo Juliette, the youngest of the artist’s three sisters, was to become the faithful conservator of his studio. The work…
Goya, Francisco de (1746-1828) Majas al balcón (Majas on a Balcony) c.1800–1810 Oil on canvas, 194.9 x 125.7 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Attributed to Goya. The women known as majas visually distinguished themselves through opulent, exaggerated traditional dress that…
Caillebotte, Gustave (1848-1894) Les orangers (The Orange Trees) 1878 Oil on canvas, 154.94 x 116.84 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Houston With brilliant hues of reds, greens, purples, and yellows, laid down in the flickering brushwork typical of Impressionism, Gustave Caillebotte…
Caillebotte, Gustave (1848-1894) Un homme à son bain (Man at His Bath) 1884 Oil on canvas, 144.8 x 114.3 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston This painting presents an unusually intimate scene from everyday life at the grand scale once reserved…
Caillebotte, Gustave (1848-1894) Dans un café (In a Café) 1880 Oil on canvas, 153 x 114 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen Caillebotte presented this café scene, typical of modern life, at the fifth Impressionist Exhibition. A life-sized male figure dominates the…
Van Eyck, Jan (c.1390-1441) Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini and his Wife 1434 Oil on oak, 82.2 x 60 cm National Gallery, London This must be one of the most famous paintings in the world, and one of the most intriguing.…