Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903) Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water 1872 Oil on canvas, 51 × 76.7 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago In the early 1870s James McNeill Whistler took a radical step toward abstraction with his Nocturnes series. In…
Sargent, John Singer (1856-1925) The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy 1907 Oil on canvas, 71.4 × 56.5 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago The year 1907 was a turning point for John Singer Sargent, as he daringly stepped away from his successful…
Degas, Edgar (1834-1917) Ballet à l’Opéra de Paris (Ballet at the Paris Opéra) 1877 Pastel over monotype on cream laid paper, 35.2 × 70.6 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago One of the nineteenth century’s most innovative artists, Edgar Degas often…
Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) Maternité (Mother and Child) 1921 Oil on canvas, 142.9 × 172.7 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago In 1917 Picasso traveled to Rome to design sets and costumes for Sergei Diaghilev’s famed Ballets Russes. Deeply impressed by the…
Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664) La crucifixión (The Crucifixion) 1627 Oil on canvas, 290.3 × 165.5 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Beginning in the mid-sixteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church clarified and reaffirmed its doctrine and practices in an effort to…
Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) Le fauteuil rouge (The Red Armchair) 1931 Oil and Ripolin on panel, 131.1 × 98.7 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Pablo Picasso painted numerous portraits of the many women in his life. Often the circumstances surrounding his…
Monet, Claude (1840-1926) La plage de Sainte-Adresse (The Beach at Sainte-Adresse) 1867 Oil on canvas, 75.8 × 102.5 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago In the summer of 1867 Claude Monet stayed with his aunt in Sainte-Adresse, an affluent suburb of…
Morisot, Berthe (1841-1895) Femme à sa toilette (Woman at Her Toilette) c.1875–1880 Oil on canvas, 60.3 × 80.4 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Consistent with the Impressionist aesthetic that Berthe Morisot fervently espoused, Woman at Her Toilette attempts to capture…
Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906) Le panier de pommes (The Basket of Apples) c.1893 Oil on canvas, 65 × 80 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Art, Paul Cézanne once claimed, is “a harmony running parallel to nature,” not an imitation of nature.…
Monet, Claude (1840-1926) La Gare Saint-Lazare, le train de Normandie (Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare) 1877 Oil on canvas, 60.3 × 80.2 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago The Impressionists frequently paid tribute to the modern aspects of Paris.…