**This class will be taught In-Person**
150 years ago, on April 15, 1874, the first Impressionist exhibition opened in Paris. One of the primary subjects for these artists was the Seine River, central to French life, culture and identity. This course will examine key works of water-oriented life and activities created by Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat. It will focus on economic activities surrounding the Seine’s waterways, views of the suburbs and villages along the Seine, popular pastimes such as sailing, as well as places chosen by these artists who settled and vacationed on the water. It will also reflect how pastoral scenic landscapes along the Seine were affected by increasing industrialization.
Week 1: 19th century Paris was the epicenter of the art world and the site for the development of the group of artists who would be known as Impressionists. Explore people at leisure and work in Paris, as well as views of some of the 37 bridges over the Seine in Paris.
Week 2: In the 1880s Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and Emile Bernard met to paint in Asnières-sur-Seine, a short distance from the center of Paris. As well as capturing the inhabitants of the community, their works featured many of the effects of industrialization, such as the railroad bridges and factory smokestacks that dotted the landscape.
Week 3: In the villages of Argenteuil, Bougival and Chatou, artists like Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted numerous scenes of life and leisure along the Seine, as well as depictions of their friends and family.
Week 4: We’ll look at the Impressionists and their portrayals of arteries of commerce, namely, the Seine and its tributaries, that were associated with urban industrial development and the rise of the middle class.
Week 5: We’ll visit Monet in Normandy and explore his lifelong ties to the region and his depictions of life and commerce in northern France.
Week 6: We’ll look at how the landscape of the northern coast of France evolved from fishing villages to fashionable holiday centers.
