Floor plan

East wing: The Nineteenth CenturyPost-Impressionism

Post-Impressionism

In My Dream I Saw in the Sky a Face of Mystery, by Odilon Redon, 1885
Lush tall grasses with small white flowers foreground a grove of bushy trees of varying types and heights, their leaves ranging from deep green to golden. Beneath a dense and heavy yellow sky, a small blue triangle suggesting a mountain peak crests above the treeline at far left.
Painted in muted lime green, plum purple, buttercup yellow, slate and royal blue, the head and shoulders of a man with peach-colored skin sitting in front of a window looks at us in this stylized, vertical portrait. His body and face are angled to our right but he looks at us from the corners of his eyes, which are grass-green with touches of yellow. One cobalt-blue eyebrow is cocked, and shading in denim blue, butter yellow, and fern green create hollows under both eyes. His flat nose has a broad bridge, and his pale pink lips are closed, the far corner pulled slightly up. His mustache is painted with visible strokes of forest green and his ginger-orange beard is trimmed along his prominent, jutting chin. His short, dark hair is brushed back from his temples and is painted with strokes of pine green, navy blue, and coral orange. His shirt has a wide, golden yellow stripe along the collar above indigo blue, under a grayish-violet purple jacket. The wall over his shoulder, in the upper left corner, is painted vivid lime green with long, vertical brushstrokes. The view through the window beyond his other shoulder is of vegetation and mountains. The portrait is painted with visible brushstrokes throughout, and is especially loose in the background, hair, and jacket. An inscription in dark green script in the upper left reads, “a l'ami Carriere PGauguin.” A second inscription in the lower left is written with dark brown paint: “l'ami Laval PGo.”
Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", by Georges Seurat, 1884
Impressionist sea landscape, tan houses, blue ocean, distant mountains.
Tahitian Faces (Frontal View and Profiles), by Paul Gauguin, ca. 1899
A work made of transfer drawing in brownish-black ink (recto); graphite and blue crayon pencil with brush and solvent washes in ocher on cream wove paper.

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Artists who kept Impressionism's colour but pushed towards structure, symbol and feeling.

Section 1, north wall

  1. In My Dream I Saw in the Sky a Face of Mystery, by Odilon Redon, 1885
    In My Dream I Saw in the Sky a Face of MysteryOdilon Redon, 1885Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Lush tall grasses with small white flowers foreground a grove of bushy trees of varying types and heights, their leaves ranging from deep green to golden. Beneath a dense and heavy yellow sky, a small blue triangle suggesting a mountain peak crests above the treeline at far left.
    The Poet's GardenVincent van Gogh, 1888Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Painted in muted lime green, plum purple, buttercup yellow, slate and royal blue, the head and shoulders of a man with peach-colored skin sitting in front of a window looks at us in this stylized, vertical portrait. His body and face are angled to our right but he looks at us from the corners of his eyes, which are grass-green with touches of yellow. One cobalt-blue eyebrow is cocked, and shading in denim blue, butter yellow, and fern green create hollows under both eyes. His flat nose has a broad bridge, and his pale pink lips are closed, the far corner pulled slightly up. His mustache is painted with visible strokes of forest green and his ginger-orange beard is trimmed along his prominent, jutting chin. His short, dark hair is brushed back from his temples and is painted with strokes of pine green, navy blue, and coral orange. His shirt has a wide, golden yellow stripe along the collar above indigo blue, under a grayish-violet purple jacket. The wall over his shoulder, in the upper left corner, is painted vivid lime green with long, vertical brushstrokes. The view through the window beyond his other shoulder is of vegetation and mountains. The portrait is painted with visible brushstrokes throughout, and is especially loose in the background, hair, and jacket. An inscription in dark green script in the upper left reads, “a l'ami Carriere PGauguin.” A second inscription in the lower left is written with dark brown paint: “l'ami Laval PGo.”
    Self-Portrait Dedicated to CarrièrePaul Gauguin, 1888 or 1889Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", by Georges Seurat, 1884
    Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte"Georges Seurat, 1884Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 1, south wall

  1. Impressionist sea landscape, tan houses, blue ocean, distant mountains.
    The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'EstaquePaul Cézanne, c. 1885Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Tahitian Faces (Frontal View and Profiles), by Paul Gauguin, ca. 1899
    Tahitian Faces (Frontal View and Profiles)Paul Gauguin, ca. 1899Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. A work made of transfer drawing in brownish-black ink (recto); graphite and blue crayon pencil with brush and solvent washes in ocher on cream wove paper.
    Woman with a CatPaul Gauguin, c. 1900Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, south wall

  1. Painting of a performance inside a circus ring. A man wearing a suit holds a whip in his hand and looks towards a woman with red hair riding a gray horse and wearing a green dress. Audience members wearing suits and top hats watch from red and white benches on the side.
    Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando)Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1887–88Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Painting, heavy in tones of blue-green and burnt orange, depicting a bar scene at night. The men wear top hats and many are bearded; the women are dressed in voluminous gowns and decorative hats. Five people converse in the center of the composition and a woman with a green face dominates the right foreground.
    At the Moulin RougeHenri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892–95Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, north wall

  1. Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), by Paul Gauguin, 1891
    Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary)Paul Gauguin, 1891Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of reed pen and iron-gall ink on tan laid paper.
    Avenue of Pollard Birches and PoplarsVincent van Gogh, March 1884Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Head of a Tahitian Woman, by Paul Gauguin, 1891
    Head of a Tahitian WomanPaul Gauguin, 1891Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. Aman-Jean (Portrait of Edmond François Aman-Jean), by Georges Seurat, 1882–83
    Aman-Jean (Portrait of Edmond François Aman-Jean)Georges Seurat, 1882–83Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, north wall

  1. Pastel drawing of two figures in a sailboat, bright multi-colored clouds.
    Flower CloudsOdilon Redon, c. 1903Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Painting of a red-haired, bearded man with light skin, painted in short brushstrokes and multicolored dots. The background is likewise a mass of small, closely spaced colored dots, these in green, blue, and red-orange.
    Self-PortraitVincent van Gogh, 1887Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque), by Georges Seurat, 1887–88
    Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque)Georges Seurat, 1887–88Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art