Fifteen images of paintings by twelve artists which were shown at the First Impressionist Exhibition present a more coherent overview. But history is capricious.
Cézanne
Shipwreck in The Tempest, forgotten Impressionists, a threshing machine, a weekend on the River Seine, a pair of portraits of Thomas and Susan Eakins, a pair of clowns, and more.
Paintings of open fires and stoves from 1565 to 1884 show how we lived through the winter before central heating.
He didn’t start painting in Impressionist style until about 1870, and a decade later was migrating towards what became Post-Impressionism.
Pierrot and Harlequin went on to be clowns in the circus, and Pulcinella became Mr Punch in popular Punch and Judy shows. And they live on still.
He first suggested the Impressionist exhibitions, co-founded their collective, and wrote their charter. Yet he didn’t achieve commercial success until he was in his sixties.
From Rebecca Solomon’s Appointment (1861), through Cézanne’s clock without any hands, to Christian Krohg’s at almost midnight.
An unusual pastel, a couple of fine nocturnes, then some reflections of figures from Caravaggio and Bonnard, concluded by coy self-portraits.
Michallon taught Camille Corot, who in turn taught Camille Pissarro. In their early Impressionist years, Pissarro painted alongside Cézanne.
Two hundred years ago today, Achille Michallon died, the most brilliant landscape painter of his day in Europe. He was only 25.
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