Floor plan

East wing: The Nineteenth CenturyImpressionism

Impressionism

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned man in a suit sits in a high-backed chair, looking slightly to our right in this vertical portrait painting. His eyes and head are both turned slightly to our right, with only one ear visible on our left. His shoulder on our right and the right side of the chair are slightly cut off by the edge of the painting. He has a straight nose, high cheekbones, and pale pink closed lips. His eyes are dark, with small shadows beneath them. His black, wavy hair is parted on our right and cropped short on the sides of his head, with thick, defined waves on top. He has a light brown mustache that extends past the edge of his lips and flips up at the ends and a small, thin goatee. Beneath his chin, the collar of his white shirt is visible. The man wears an open suit jacket with a black vest, which folds slightly just below his chest, revealing a glimpse of his white shirt beneath it in a gap between buttons. The chair is only visible from the man’s shoulders up and ends at his forehead. It has a curved, round top back with a red frame and dark green upholstery. The part of the red frame on the right side of the painting has white and yellow highlights. The background is dark gray with visible brushstrokes. The artist signed and dated the painting at the top left, “F. Bazille. 1866.”
In the Omnibus, by Mary Cassatt, 1890–91
Dancers, by Edgar Degas, c. 1896
A work made of oil on canvas.
Three light-skinned, dark-haired ballerinas, painted in muted tones, wear off-the-shoulder yellow leotards and tutus as they huddle near each other. One adjusts her costume, while one holds her hands clasped above her head. At left is a painted screen with four pairs of feet visible underneath.
Sheet of Studies and Sketches, by Edgar Degas, 1858
The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1888

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Painters in 1870s Paris who worked quickly, often outdoors, to catch light as it changed.

First room, north wall

  1. Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned man in a suit sits in a high-backed chair, looking slightly to our right in this vertical portrait painting. His eyes and head are both turned slightly to our right, with only one ear visible on our left. His shoulder on our right and the right side of the chair are slightly cut off by the edge of the painting. He has a straight nose, high cheekbones, and pale pink closed lips. His eyes are dark, with small shadows beneath them. His black, wavy hair is parted on our right and cropped short on the sides of his head, with thick, defined waves on top. He has a light brown mustache that extends past the edge of his lips and flips up at the ends and a small, thin goatee. Beneath his chin, the collar of his white shirt is visible. The man wears an open suit jacket with a black vest, which folds slightly just below his chest, revealing a glimpse of his white shirt beneath it in a gap between buttons. The chair is only visible from the man’s shoulders up and ends at his forehead. It has a curved, round top back with a red frame and dark green upholstery. The part of the red frame on the right side of the painting has white and yellow highlights. The background is dark gray with visible brushstrokes. The artist signed and dated the painting at the top left, “F. Bazille. 1866.”
    Edouard BlauFrédéric Bazille, probably 1869Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. In the Omnibus, by Mary Cassatt, 1890–91
    In the OmnibusMary Cassatt, 1890–91Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Dancers, by Edgar Degas, c. 1896
    DancersEdgar Degas, c. 1896Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Fruits of the MidiPierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

First room, south wall

  1. Three light-skinned, dark-haired ballerinas, painted in muted tones, wear off-the-shoulder yellow leotards and tutus as they huddle near each other. One adjusts her costume, while one holds her hands clasped above her head. At left is a painted screen with four pairs of feet visible underneath.
    Yellow Dancers (In the Wings)Edgar Degas, 1874–76Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Sheet of Studies and Sketches, by Edgar Degas, 1858
    Sheet of Studies and SketchesEdgar Degas, 1858Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1888
    The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955)Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1888Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, south wall

  1. Two groups of people face off in front of a hilly landscape in this loosely painted, vertical scene. On our left, a pale young man in a white tunic looks with eyes wide and lips parted at a group of three people on our right. The young man's right hand, on our left, is raised to stroke the head of a reddish-brown horse at his right shoulder. He stands with feet planted wide, knees bent, and he curls his left hand into a fist. Behind him, a man holds up a fluttering, light blue cape. A mottled red wall forms a backdrop to this scene on our left. The tight group gathered under a tree on our right stares back at the young man. The trio is made up of a balding, older man, a light-skinned boy also wearing a white tunic, and, closest to us, a brown-skinned woman wearing a marigold-orange shirt and a maroon-red skirt. Behind this group, a pair of pale raised arms suggests a fourth person, but the head is missing or has been painted over. The ground under the people is saffron orange. In the center of the picture, beyond the people, a group of horses stands near a green bank by a river, its surface reflecting white. The far bank is lined with white buildings. Tan and olive-green slopes rise from the opposite riverbank under a pale blue sky with cream-white clouds sweeping along the top edge of the composition. The artist signed his name in red paint in the lower right corner: “Degas.”
    Alexander and BucephalusEdgar Degas, 1861/1862Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of oil on canvas.
    VétheuilClaude Monet, 1901Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Loosely painted image of an open-air train station. On the right, a parked train gives off an enormous plumb of white smoke, making the scene look as though it were full of clouds. A huddled mass of barely discernible people crowd around the train on both sides of the tracks. Blue, green, and gray tones dominate.
    Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-LazareClaude Monet, 1877Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second room, north wall

  1. The Dance Class, by Edgar Degas, 1874
    The Dance ClassEdgar Degas, 1874Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Conversation: Ludovic Halévy and Madame Cardinal (The Conversation) for "La Famille Cardinal" by Ludovic Halévy, by Edgar Degas, c. 1880–83
    Conversation: Ludovic Halévy and Madame Cardinal (The Conversation) for "La Famille Cardinal" by Ludovic HalévyEdgar Degas, c. 1880–83Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Watering Place at MarlyAlfred Sisley, 1875Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. A Woman Seated at a Bench on the Avenue du Bois, by Berthe Morisot, 1885
    A Woman Seated at a Bench on the Avenue du BoisBerthe Morisot, 1885Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Third room, north wall

  1. Painting of a beach on a cloudy day with several sailboats on the water, a few rowboats on the shore, and two groupings of people on the sand.
    The Beach at Sainte-AdresseClaude Monet, 1867Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A wide creek winds between a tree-lined bank to our left and hazy mountains to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. The riverbank curves deeply like a backward capital letter B. Marshy grasses grow in tufts, and palm and other trees grow in a grove to our left. One brown-skinned person wearing only a white cloth around the hips carries a long stick near the shoreline. Dabs of brown and muted dark pink suggest other people farther along the riverside. Tree-covered boulders jut into the creek from our right. A band of rocky, mountains are smoky mauve-pink across the rightmost two-thirds of the horizon, which comes a third of the way up the composition. The butter-yellow sun is low on the horizon to our right, peeking through the grove of palm trees. The light pours across the placid surface of the creek, creating a soft yellow streak next to the reflection of the mountain ridge. A few heather-pink clouds drift across the pale turquoise sky. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “C. Pizarro. 1856. Paris.”
    A Creek in St. Thomas (Virgin Islands)Camille Pissarro, 1856Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington