Clair de Lune: 19th and Early 20th Century French Paintings

This exhibition of works from the collection is designed to complement the works in Cézanne and the Modern. Beginning with an early work by Eugène Boudin, one of Claude Monet’s teachers, Clair de Lune examines the currents of Impressionism represented within the permanent collection. The work of an artist such as Adolphe Monticelli, whom Vincent van Gogh greatly admired, is little known today, but in the nineteenth century he was both an immensely successful and influential painter. The more powerful influence of impressionist style is seen in the work of Albert Lebourg and the group of paintings by Henri Le Sidaner. Le Sidaner, an important second-generation impressionist artist, is known for images that seem to shimmer and glow with an inner life. This exhibition takes its title from one of his canvases.

A superb canvas by Jean-Louis Forain, Voilà la preuve! (1922), shows the continued importance of the figurative legacy of the painters Gustave Courbet and Honoré Daumier, both included in Cézanne and the Modern. Finally, the enduring importance of Cézanne himself is demonstrated in the work of Charles Camoin.