 Bridge at Chatou. Pierre-Aguste Renoir (1841-1919) 1875. Renoir placed his easel on lush pastoral land in Chatou, a village about nine miles west of Paris, yet chose to paint the town's nondescript buildings rather than the surrounding landscape. The focus of the canvas is the brilliant blue of the river and the contrasting yellow of the sunlit bridge, its reflection blurred by the choppy surface of the suburban waterway. |
 Bacchus and Ariadne. Jules Dalou, 1894. The princess Ariadne fell asleep on a beach after being abandoned by the hero Theseus. Bacchus, the god of wind, found her and fell instantly in love with her. In Dalou's sculpture, the god is shown waking Ariadne with a tender kiss. A faun mischieviously tries to squeeze between them and steal attention by offering grapes. The theme derives from a classical myth and the elements of the narrative reveal themselves as we walk around the sculpture. |
 Neapolitan Children Bathing. American: John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) 1879. Sargent developed this painting from pencil sketches and oil studies made during his travels in southern Italy. Local children bask in the heat of a lazy summer's day. A young boy wearing a flotation device looks toward the sea, where the head of a swimmer bobs above the surface. Thinly applied washes of blue and green indicate the calm water, while thicker strokes suggest the texture of cresting waves and grainy sand. |
 Seascape. French: Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) 1867. |
 Street in Sainte Adresse. French: Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) 1867. Monet grew up in Le Havre, Normandy, and in later years, he often painted the beach at Sainte-Adresse, a small fishing village nearby. In this scene, he turns his attention to the town itself. A woman and child look down a sloping street, which draws our eyes to other figures disappearing around a corner. Light plays off cobblestones, walls, and roofs, revealing curling plumes of blue-gray smoke rising from chimneys into the air. |
 Offering the Panal to the Bullfighter. American: Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) 1873. During an extended stay in Spain in 1873, Cassatt made several paintings of local customs. This work depicts a young woman flirtatiously offering a glass of water to a bullfighter, who dips panal (honeycomb) into it to make a refreshing drink. The rich colors and dazzling brushwork are inspired by the seventeenth-century Spanish painter Diego Velazquez, whose "fine and simple manner" Cassatt praised. |
 Tama, The Japanese Dog. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) 1876 |
 Sunset. French: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1879-1881) Renoir would have called this work an impression, a finished painting of a dramatic atmospheric effect rather than a sketch of a spcific site. The sea is heavily worked with layers of color, the sky is painted in broad, rapid brushstrokes. The elevated viewpoint looks out across the water, where a small boat suggests a sense of scale and an indication of human presence. |
 Jules Pelletier. French: Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) 1867 |