IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS:

THE SUBURBS OF PARIS

Course Outline

Our course will visit the suburbs east and west of Paris, and the Normandy coast, during the period 1850 to 1890. The first part of each class will review some fifteen of the paintings of the period, putting them in their historical, social, and literary contexts. The works include painters given diverse classifications, including the Barbizon School, realists, Impressionists, and post-Impressionists, united in that they all contributed to the dramatic changes in painting after 1850. During the four classes we view works by sixteen painters, including Millet, Courbet, Monet, Sisley, Renoir, and Van Gogh. Our readings include works by Baudelaire, Zola, and Maupassant.

In the latter part of each class, we will walk the streets of the suburbs and the coastal beaches today, viewing them through digital pictures taken by the instructor over the last decade. We visit the very sites featured in the paintings and the literature of the period, many of which are remarkably similar to their state when the painters knew them: we really can walk in the footsteps of the Impressionists. Be forewarned: the instructor is an economic historian and economist by training, a Francophile by marriage and experience, and a strictly amateur admirer of the art of the period.

1. Barbizon, Marlotte, and Moret-sur-Loing • An Invitation to the Voyage • Barbizon and Farmers • The Forest of Fountainebleau • Renoir, Murger, and Marlotte

2. Bougival and Chatou • Maupassant, “Paul’s Mistress” (1881) • Le Restaurant Fournaise • George Bizet’s Carmen • Walking from Chatou to Bougival to Louveciennes to Port Marly

3. Argenteuil and Auvers-sur-Oise • Guy de Maupassant, “A Day in the Country” (1881) • Jean Renoir, A Day in the Country (1946) • Monet’s Argenteuil • Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Pissarro in Auvers-sur-Oise and Pontoise

4. Gloton, Giverny, and the Normandy Coast • Zola, Cezanne, and Monet at Gloton 2

• Giverny • The Normandy Coast

I. The Painters

In a course as short as this, we can only sample a small part of the rich art of this period. I have chosen the works in large part to support a coherent narrative of the places we visit. To help us get started, I have listed below, in alphabetical order, the painters whose works we will consider in class. Each entry shows the name of the painting, the date, dimensions in centimeters (height by length), the medium (if other than oil on canvas), the city (if not Paris) and the museum in which the work hangs, followed by a number from 1 to 4 in brackets indicating the lecture in which we first discuss the painting.

Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) Low Tide Near Honfleur, 1854-57, 27 x 37. (4)

Mary Cassatt (1845-1926) Portrait of Mme Sisley, 1873, 191 x 64. (1)

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) La Maison du pendu, 1872-73, 55 x 66. Orsay. (3) Dr. Gachet’s House at Auvers, 1873, 46 x 38. Orsay. (3) The House of Père Lacroix at Auvers, 1873, 61 x 51. Washington, National Gallery of Art. (3) Turning Road, 1881, 61 x 74. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts. (3) Vue de Bonnières, 1866. Aix-les-Bains, musée Faure. (4) Portrait of an Old Man (Père Rouvel at Bennecourt), c. 1866, 51 x 48. Orsay. (4)

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) The Stonebreakers, 1849, 165 x 257. Presumed destroyed. (1) Burial at Ornans, 1849-50, 315 x 668. Orsay. (1) The Sleeping Spinner, 1853, 91 x 115. Montpellier, Musée Fabre. (1) Courbet, Winnowers or Girls Sifting Corn , 1855, 131 x 167. Nantes, Musée des Beaux Arts. (1) The Woman in a Podoscaph, 1865, 171 x 209, Tokyo, Murauchi Art Museum. (4) The Cliff of Etretat after the Storm, 1869, 133 x 162. Orsay. (4) Cliffs at Étretat, la Porte d’Aval, 1869, 65 x 81. Pasadena, The Norton Simon Museum of Art. (4)

Charles-Francois Daubigny (1817-1878) Moisson, 1851, 135 x 196. Orsay. (1) Pool, 1858, 58 x 94. St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum (1) Le Bateau-atelier, 1857, 11 x 16, pen and ink. Louvre. (3) Boats on the Oise, 1865, 39 x 67. Louvre. (3) 3

The Village of Gloton, 1857, 54 x 30, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. (4)

Edouard Manet (1832-1883) Argenteuil, 1874, 148 x 115. Tournai, Musée des Beaux-Arts. (3)

Jean Francois Millet (1814-1875) The Gleaners, 1857, 84 x 111. Louvre. (1) Angelus, 1858-59, 55 x 66. Louvre. (1) Man with a Hoe, 1860-62, 80 x 99. Los Angeles, The Getty Center. The J. Paul Getty Trust. (1)

Claude Monet (1840-1926) La Grenouillère, 1869, 75 x 100. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2) The Bridge at Bougival, 1869, 66 x 93. Manchester, N.H., Currier Gallery of Art. (2) The Argenteuil Basin, 1872, 60 x 81. Orsay. (3) The Promenade, Argenteuil, 1872, 51 x 65. Washington, National Gallery. (3) The Railroad Bridge, Argenteuil, 1873, 58 x 97. Private Collection. (3) Poppies at Argenteuil, 1873, 50 x 65. Orsay. (3) A Corner of the Garden with Dalias, 1873, 61 x 83. New York, Private Collection. (3) The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874, 60 x 80. Orsay. (3) The Croix Blanche, 1875, 53 x 64. Musée Marmottan. (3) The Boat Studio, 1876, 72 x 60. Barnes Collection. (3) Caricature of Léon Manchon, 1855-56, 61 x 45, charcoal with white chalk on paper. Art Institute of Chicago. (4) The Entrance to the Port of Honfleur, 1867. Norton Simon Foundation. (4) On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt, 1868, 82 x 101, Art Institute of Chicago. (4) The Boardwalk at Trouville, 1870, 54 x 65. Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum. (4) The Hotel des Roches Noires, Trouville, 1870. Orsay. (4) Impression, Sunrise, 1872, 48 x 63. Musée Marmottan. (4) Monet’s Garden at Vétheuil, 1881, 150 x 120. Washington, National Gallery of Art. (4) Fécamp, bord de Mer, 1881, 65 x 81. Le Havre, Musée Malraux. (4) The Cliffs at Etretat, 1884, 60 x 81. Basel, Kunstmuseum. (4) Etretat, la porte d’Aval; bateaux de pêche sortant du port, c. 1885, oil on wood. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon. (4) The portal and the tower of the Saint-Romain at brilliant sun, Harmony in Blue and Gold, 1893, 107 x 73. Orsay. (4) The portal and the tower of the saint-romain at morning sun, Harmony in Blue, 1893, 91 x 63. Orsay. (4) Rouen Cathedral, The Façade in Sunlight, 1894, 106 x 74. Williamstown, Massachusetts, Clark Art Institute. (4) The Waterlily Pond, c. 1899, 88 x 93. London, National Gallery. (4) The Artist’s Garden at Giverny, 1900. Yale University Art Gallery. (4) Water Lilies (The Clouds), 1903, 75 x 105 cm, Private collection. (4) Water Lilies, 1906, 88 x 93, The Art Institute of Chicago. (4)

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Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) The Quay at Bougival, 1883, 55 x 46. Oslo, National Gallery. (2) Eugene Manet and his Daughter at Bougival, 1881, 73 x 92. Paris, Private Collection. (2)

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) Springtime at Louveciennes, c. 1868-69, 53 x 82. London, National Art Gallery. (2) Stagecoach at Louveciennes, 1870, 25 x 34. Orsay. (2) Le Chalet, la Maison Rose, 1870, 46 x 55. Orsay. (2) The Jardin de Maubuisson, Pontoise, c. 1867, 82 x 100. Prague, Narodni Gallery. (3) The Hills at L’Hermitage, Pointoise, c. 1867, 151 x 206. New York, Guggenheim Museum. (3) Banks of the Oise at Auvers-sur-Oise, 1878, 54 x 65. Private collection. (3)

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) L’Hiver ou Le Déluge, 1660-1664, 118 x 160. Louvre. (1) The Funeral of Phocion, 1648, 114 x 175. Cardiff, National Museum of Wales. (1)

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) The Inn of the Mother Anthony, Marlotte, 1866, 195 x 130. Stockhlm, Nationalmuseum. (1) The Painter Le Coeur Hunting in the Forest of Fontainebleau, 1866, 106 x 180. Sao Paulo Museum of Art. (1) The Engaged Couple, c. 1868, 106 x 74. Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum. (1) Portrait of Alfred Sisley, 1876, 66 x 55. Art Institute of Chicago. (1) Oarsmen at Chatou, 1879, 81 x 100. Washington, National Gallery of Art. (1) The Grenouillère, 1869, 66 x 86, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum. (2) Bathing on the Seine, La Grenouillère, c. 1869, 59 x 80. Moscow, Pushkin Museum. (2) At the Grenouillère, 1879, 72 x 92. Orsay. (2) Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881, 130 x 173. Washington, Phillips Collection. (2) Dance at Bougival, 1883, 182 x 98. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts. (2) Monet Working in his Garden at Argenteuil, 1873, 50 x 62. Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum. (3)

Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682) Edge of a Forest, c. 1660-1670, 57 x 65. Louvre. (1)

Theodore Rousseau (1812-1867) The Large Oak Tree: Forest of Fontainebleau, 1839, 32 x 41. Saint Louis Art Museum. (1) Edge of the Forest at Fontainebleau, Setting Sun, 1850-51, 142 x 198. Louvre. (1) Group of Oaks, Apremont, Forest of Fontainebleau, 1852, 64 x 100. Orsay. (1)

Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) Village Street in Marlotte, 1866, 50 x 92. Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery. (1) Moret-sur-Loing, 1891, 65 x 92. Paris, Galerie H. Odermatt-Ph. Cazeau. (1) 5

The Canal du Loing at Moret, 1892, 73 x 93. Orsay. (1) The Church at Moret – Icy Weather, 1893, 65 x 81. Private collection. (1) Garden Path in Louveciennes (Chemin de l’Etarché), 1873, 64 x 46. Private collection. (2) Snow at Louveciennes, 1874, 56 x 46, Washington, Phillips Collection. (2) Foggy Morning, Voisins, 1874, 51 x 65. Orsay. (2) Street in Louveciennes (Rue de la Princesse), 1875, 38 x 54. Phillips Family Collection, USA. (2) Place du Chenil à Marly, neige, 1876, 46 x 61. Rouen, musée des Beaux Arts. (2) Flood at Port Marly, 1876, 60 x 81. Orsay. (2) Flood at Port-Marly, 1876, 50 x 61. Lugano, Switzerland, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. (2)

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) Self-Portrait with Felt Hat, 1887-89, 44 x 38. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh. (3) The Church at Auvers, 1890, 94 x 74. Orsay. (3) Portrait of Doctor Gachet, 1890, 66 x 57. Private Collection. (3) Wheatfield with Crows, 1890, 51 x 101. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum V. Van Gogh. (3) Thatched Houses against a Hill, 1890. London, Tate Gallery, 50 x 100. (3) Houses with Thatched Roofs, Cordeville, 1890. Orsay, 72 x 91. (3)