"Paintings With Personality"

Makenzie is sweet and adorable. Who could help but paint that face:

“We would have died of hunger without him, all we Impressionists. We owe him everything.” – Claude Monet, talking about Paul Durand-Ruel

Honey and I drove to Philadelphia last weekend. The purpose of our trip was to see the Impressionist show at the Museum of Art. Our son and his wife were driving up from Virginia to meet us, so we made a weekend of it. I'm thrilled that our son has finally gotten an interest in viewing art.

I have seen many art exhibits, including those of the Impressionists. But, I learned things from this show that I hadn't heard before, it was interesting enough to make me want to research further.

The title of the exhibit was “Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel and the New Painting. The museum claims it is ‘the untold story' of Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, and the art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, who believed in the artists and in their work.

The Impressionist movement broke a long standing tradition of neoclassical art in Europe. The polished detail of the neoclassical style wasn't for them, they rejected the traditional exhibits, choosing to paint the way they wanted. Their new and original work was snubbed by the strong, academic art institutions, and created quite an outrage in the art world, resulting in the Impressionist painters being unable to sell their art work.

The art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, often referred to as the man who created the Modern Art Market, became owner of his parent's art gallery when his father's health failed. He was excited about the Impressionist work and organized an exhibition of their work in his gallery. The exhibit wasn't accepted by the ‘Salon,' who called him ‘mad,' and labeled his gallery an “insane asylum.” In response, Durand-Ruel organized a major exhibition for the artists of the Barbizon school, whose work had also been rejected by the Salon.

Durand-Ruel's 30 year old wife died in 1871, when she was pregnant with their sixth child; leaving him the sole responsibility of their five young children. He never remarried, instead, making the Impressionist painters his family. He supported the Impressionist painters, purchasing their work over the market value, paying their doctor bills, and their rent so they could keep painting. By 1883, he was close to bankruptcy, he had monopolized the Impressionist market, buying as many as 25 works at a time. He had organized exhibitions around Europe, none of them successful, when he was invited to organize an exhibition in New York City. The New York show was a triumph and for the first time, Impressionist art was officially recognized. Paris paid attention to the success and Durand-Ruel's Paris gallery began to recover; resulting in Durand-Ruel organizing exhibitions worldwide.

From 1891 to 1922 when he died, Durand-Ruel is reported to have bought 12,000 paintings by Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Manet and other Impressionist painters.

When he was 89 years old, Durand-Ruel said, “At last the Impressionist masters triumphed just as the generation of 1830 had. My madness had been wisdom. To think that, had I passed away at sixty, I would have died debt-ridden and bankrupt, surrounded by a wealth of underrated treasures…”

If you get a chance to see the exhibit, it is well worth the time spent. Let me know what you think of it. Best, Judy

www.judyballance.com