Paintings of the Rouen cathedral by Monet in the Musée d'Orsay taken on 23 June, 2022.
Musée d'Orsay, famous for its extensive collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces, is set to hold an exhibition at the tail-end of March celebrating 150 years of impressionism with a focus on rejoicing the birth of the avant-garde movement.
The exhibition will allow would-be visitors to visit Paris in 1874 to experience the "Impressionist Moment" for themselves in the museum's first-ever 45-minute virtual reality immersive recreation of the now-legendary exhibition that kicked off over a century-and-a-half-long art crusade.
In addition to that, the showcase will feature 130 groundbreaking pieces from the art movement's forerunners such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, and Alfred Sisley.
The Advent of Impressionism
In a statement to The Guardian, joint curator Sylvie Patry explained that the "1874 exhibition" is the "real moment" when impressionism truly got its start.
This is because the event itself brought together a collective of French creatives, comprising painters, sculptors, and printmakers, who had hoped to depict the beauty of the world in free and realistic hues.
However, according to Patry, the term "impressionism" wasn't initially used by the partaking frontrunners, and the word "impressionist" was originally an insult. It was coined by Parisian journalist Louis Leroy with the intent to sarcastically label Monet's "Impression, Soleil Levant" as "unfinished."
Despite Leroy's malevolent wishes, this particular Monet piece would later on be regarded as the spiritual founding masterpiece of the exhilarating new art movement, and consequently, the term would eventually be a widely celebrated moniker.
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Impressionism Beyond the Musée d'Orsay Walls
In another event commemorating the 150th anniversary of the venerated art movement, the museum will facilitate the lending of various masterpieces from its collection, which includes works by Monet, Édouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Cézanne and Renoir.
The would-be recipients will be 34 museums spanning across France and the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, enabling a wider range of the public masses to experience the impressionist treasures themselves, beyond the walls of the Paris museum.
Rima Abdul Malak, France's Culture Minister announced this initiative last November, saying, "Today [impressionism] symbolizes the French art of living for the entire world."
The "Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism" exhibition will be held at the Musée d'Orsay and Washington's National Gallery of Art from March 26 to July 14 and Sept. 8 and Jan. 12, 2025, respectively.
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