Floor plan

East wing: The Nineteenth CenturyImpressionism

Impressionism

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 Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1888
A work made of oil on canvas.
We look up at the exterior of a church that soars the height of this vertical painting. The church is painted with visible dabs and strokes of azure blue, peach, lavender purple, and camel brown to create a blurred look, as if seeing a reflection in the rippling surface of a puddle. The church façade is angled to our left, away from us. The main door and its surround takes up the center of the composition, where a rectangular door is set within nested, pointed arches that lead up to a narrow, tall, triangular gable. The point of that gable overlaps the round, dark rose window, which is the same width as the portal surround below. Spires flank the central section and rise precipitously off the top edge of the painting. The sky above is painted with daubs of white and pale blue. The artist signed and dated the lower left, “Claude Monet 94.”
Landscape, by Edgar Degas, 1892
The Red Kerchief, by Claude Monet, c. 1868–73

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. 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. 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
  3. 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. We look up at the exterior of a church that soars the height of this vertical painting. The church is painted with visible dabs and strokes of azure blue, peach, lavender purple, and camel brown to create a blurred look, as if seeing a reflection in the rippling surface of a puddle. The church façade is angled to our left, away from us. The main door and its surround takes up the center of the composition, where a rectangular door is set within nested, pointed arches that lead up to a narrow, tall, triangular gable. The point of that gable overlaps the round, dark rose window, which is the same width as the portal surround below. Spires flank the central section and rise precipitously off the top edge of the painting. The sky above is painted with daubs of white and pale blue. The artist signed and dated the lower left, “Claude Monet 94.”
    Rouen Cathedral, West FaçadeClaude Monet, 1894Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Landscape, by Edgar Degas, 1892
    LandscapeEdgar Degas, 1892Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. The Red Kerchief, by Claude Monet, c. 1868–73
    The Red KerchiefClaude Monet, c. 1868–73Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Second room, south wall

  1. Painting composed of short, dense brushstrokes depicts two domed stacks of wheat that cast long shadows on a field. The angled light indicates either a rising or setting sun.
    Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer)Claude Monet, 1890–91Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A row of spire-like structures of different heights is silhouetted in azure blue against a soft pink, yellow, peach, and lavender-purple sunset and reflected in a rippling river in this nearly square landscape painting. Along the horizon, the buildings stretch from our right, almost fully across the canvas, and are painted with vertical brushstrokes in cool shades of blue. The sky behind the towers seems hazy with intermingling, pastel-colored clouds. The buildings are reflected in the river, which fills the bottom third of the painting. The surface of the water is painted with short, horizontal brushstrokes in azure blue for the buildings, and apricot, rose, and marigold orange for the sky’s reflection. A streak and smudge of olive-green paint on the water represents a person in a boat near the center of the painting. The artist signed and dated the work in the same olive color at the lower right: “Claude Monet 1903.”
    The Houses of Parliament, SunsetClaude Monet, 1903Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Dancers, by Edgar Degas, c. 1896
    DancersEdgar Degas, c. 1896Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Second room, north wall

  1. 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
  2. Roses in a Vase, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, c. 1890
    Roses in a VasePierre-Auguste Renoir, c. 1890Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, SnowCamille Pissarro, 1879Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Impressionist painting of woman wearing green dress trying on hats.
    The Millinery ShopEdgar Degas, 1879-86Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Third room, north wall

  1. Jalais Hill, Pontoise, by Camille Pissarro, 1867
    Jalais Hill, PontoiseCamille Pissarro, 1867Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. 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
  3. 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