Between 1885 and 1915, the village of Giverny attracted more than 350 artists from at least eighteen countries around the world, transforming from a sleepy community to a vibrant and important artists’ colony. The presence of master impressionist painter Claude Monet, who settled in the village in 1883, attracted these young artists, but his presence does not solely explain Giverny’s popularity. Artists also sought the opportunity to combine the practice of plein air painting with an active social life and enjoyed the locale’s picturesque features and easy proximity to Paris. Many artists visited briefly, while others purchased homes and studios, making this Norman village an artistic center. +
Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915 studied the phenomenon of this artists’ colony, paying special attention to the importance of site and reuniting for the first time many canvases that were painted in the village. More than thirty of the ninety-five paintings in the exhibition were drawn from the Terra Foundation for American Art, while the remainder of the exhibition comprised important loans from public and private collections in Europe and the United States.
The four sections of the exhibition followed the chronological and thematic evolution of painting in the colony from its origins in Barbizon-inspired landscapes to impressionist views of the village to depictions of the artists themselves and, finally, to works by the “Giverny Group” who focused on decorative depictions of women in gardens.
Dates & Venues
April 1–July 1, 2007
Musée d’Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France
July 22–October 1, 2007
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, United States
A smaller version of the exhibition, consisting of 50 paintings from the Terra Foundation collection and titled Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France, 1885–1915, was organized for two additional US venues:
May 3–July 27, 2008
Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, United States
August 26, 2008–January 4, 2009
Albany Institute of History and Art, New York, United States
Works of Art from the Terra Foundation Collection
SECTION ONE: Landscapes around Giverny
- Philip Leslie Hale, Landscape with Figure, 1888
- Willard Leroy Metcalf, The Lily Pond, 1887
- Willard Leroy Metcalf, The River Epte, Giverny, 1887
- Louis Ritter, Willows and Stream, Giverny, 1887
- Theodore Robinson, Winter Landscape, 1889
- Theodore Robinson, From the Hill, Giverny, between 1889 and 1892
- Theodore Robinson, Study for ‘Vallée de la Seine vue des hauteurs de Giverny’, 1892
- Guy Rose, Giverny Hillside, 1890–95
- Theodore Wendel, Brook, Giverny, 1887
- Theodore Wendel, Flowering Fields, Giverny, 1889
SECTION TWO: Village Life
- John Leslie Breck, Garden at Giverny (in Monet’s Garden), between 1887 and 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Autumn, Giverny (The New Moon), 1889
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Studies of an Autumn Day, 1891
- John Leslie Breck, Morning Fog and Sun, 1892
- Dawson Dawson-Watson, Giverny, 1888
- Dawson Dawson-Watson, Giverny: Road Looking West toward Church, c. 1890
- Louis Paul Dessar, Peasant Woman and Haystacks, Giverny, 1892
- Thomas Buford Meteyard, Giverny, Moonlight, between 1890 and 1893
- Lilla Cabot Perry, Autumn Afternoon, Giverny, between 1905 and 1909
- Theodore Robinson, Père Trognon and his Daughter at the Bridge, 1891
- Theodore Robinson, Blossoms at Giverny, 1891–92
- Theodore Robinson, The Wedding March, 1892
SECTION THREE: Friends and Family
- Theodore Earl Butler, Lili Butler Reading at the Butler House, Giverny, 1908
- Theodore Earl Butler, The Card Players, 1896
- William Howard Hart, Portrait of Theodore Earl Butler, 1897
- Frederick MacMonnies, Self-Portrait, 1896
- Frederick MacMonnies, Mabel Conkling, 1904
- Frederick MacMonnies [formerly attributed to Mary Fairchild MacMonnies], Atelier at Giverny, 1896 or 1897
- Lilla Cabot Perry, Self-Portrait, between 1889 and 1896
SECTION FOUR: The ‘Giverny Group’
- Karl Anderson, Tennis Court at Hôtel Baudy, 1910
- Frederick Carl Frieseke, Lilies, by 1911
- Frederick Carl Frieseke, Breakfast in the Garden, c. 1911
- Frederick Carl Frieseke, Lady in a Garden, c. 1912
- Frederick Carl Frieseke, Unraveling Silk, c. 1915
- Richard Emil (or Edward) Miller, The Pool, c. 1910
- Louis Ritman, Early Morning, 1912–15
PHOTOGRAPHS BY THEODORE ROBINSON
- Theodore Robinson, Girl Lying in Grass, c. 1886
- Theodore Robinson, Portrait of Monet, c. 1888–90
- Theodore Robinson, Woman Standing by a Tree, c. 1889–91
- Theodore Robinson, At the Fountain, c. 1890
- Theodore Robinson, Women by the Water, c. 1891
- Theodore Robinson, Woman in the Doorway, c. 1891
- Theodore Robinson, The Layette, c. 1892
- Theodore Robinson, Woman and Child (Seated), c. 1892
- Theodore Robinson, Woman and Child (Standing), c. 1892
- Theodore Robinson, House and Garden with Figure, undated
- Theodore Robinson, Portrait of a Seated Woman, undated
- Theodore Robinson, Seated Woman Sewing, undated
- Theodore Robinson, Theodore Robison (seated) with Kenyon Cox, undated
Publications
Bourguignon, Katherine M., Nina Lubbren, and Kathleen Pyne, eds. Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915. Giverny: Musée d’Art Américain Giverny; Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art. Distributed by University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Bourguignon, Katherine M., Nina Lubbren, and Kathleen Pyne, eds. Giverny impressionniste: une colonie d’artistes, 1885–1915. Paris: Réunions des musées nationaux; Giverny: Musée d’Art Américain Giverny; Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007.
