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Past Exhibitions

Frontiers of Impressionism: Paintings from the Worcester Art Museum

On view September 28, 2023 through January 7, 2024

Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), "Waterlilies", 1908. Oil on canvas, 37 3/8 x 35 3/8 inches. Worcester Art Museum Purchase 1910.26. Image courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum.
Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), Waterlilies, 1908. Oil on canvas, 37 3/8 x 35 3/8 inches. Worcester Art Museum Purchase 1910.26. Image courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum.

Frontiers of Impressionism: Paintings from the Worcester Art Museum includes 53 works by over 30 artists—including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, and Max Slevogt. Together, they demonstrate Impressionism’s international allure and its national adaptations captured in subjects from Monet’s famed Giverny lily pond to the natural wonders of the Grand Canyon.

In 2024, the term “impressionism” celebrates its 150th anniversary. Such a significant occasion inspires reflection on the profound impact that a relatively small group of artists in Paris made by positing a new mode of painting: one that favored painting outdoors over in a studio, immediacy over planning, the everyday over the grand, and the fleeting over the eternal. In doing so, the impressionists upended centuries of traditions in European art. This exhibition explores the radical impulses behind impressionism and its seemingly endless adaptability, as artists from around the world came to Paris to study and returned to their homelands, assimilating what they had absorbed and propelling the movement further. 

The Worcester Art Museum pioneered new artistic horizons by embracing impressionism early in its history. The French and American impressionism collections at the Worcester Art Museum have long drawn visitors to the galleries. The first directors purchased works by Monet from his Parisian dealer, Durand-Ruel, as well as directly from American impressionists, making the Museum one of the first in the United States to collect impressionism actively as contemporary art. Over the past 125 years, this collection has grown, encapsulating the story of the movement’s roots and emergence in France and its subsequent expansion to the United States, Germany, Scandinavia, and beyond. Highlighting more than 30 artists, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, and Max Slevogt, this exhibition demonstrates impressionism’s international allure, captured in subjects as far-flung as Monet’s famed Giverny lily pond to the natural wonders of the Grand Canyon. 

Childe Hassam, "Gathering Flowers in a French Garden", 1888. Oil on canvas. Worcester Art Museum, Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Collection, 1940.87. Image courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum.
Childe Hassam, Gathering Flowers in a French Garden, 1888. Oil on canvas. Worcester Art Museum, Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Collection, 1940.87. Image courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum.
John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925), "Oranges at Corfu", about 1909. Oil on canvas. Worcester Art Museum, Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Collection, 1940.99. Image courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum.
John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925), Oranges at Corfu, about 1909. Oil on canvas. Worcester Art Museum, Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Collection, 1940.99. Image courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum.

Frontiers of Impressionism: Paintings from the Worcester Art Museum is organized by

Thank you to our sponsors!
PreseNTING SPONSOR
SUSTAINER SPONSOR

David A. Straz, Jr. Foundation

Collection Sponsor
Vinik Family Foundation
MONET SPONSOR
Friend of the Museum

TMS of South Tampa

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