Impressionism. Nathalia Brodskaya

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      Monet recalled Gleyre’s reaction to his sketch of a nude model: “not bad,” he wrote himself, “not bad at all. But it is too much in the character of the models. You have a stocky man. He has enormous feet, you draw them as they are. All that is very ugly. Remember young man that when one executes a figure one should always think of the ancient style. Nature, my friend, is very beautiful to study, but it does not offer originality” (François Daulte, Frédéric Bazille, Pierre Cailler, Geneva, 1952, p.30). But for the future Impressionists, it was precisely nature which offered originality.

      La Grenouillère

      Claude Monet, 1869

      Oil on canvas, 74.6 × 99.7 cm

      The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

      La Grenouillère

      Auguste Renoir, 1869

      Oil on canvas, 66 × 81 cm

      Statens Konstmuseert, Stockholm

      Renoir reported that in their first meeting, Frédéric Bazille told him, “the big, classical compositions are finished. The depiction of daily life is more fascinating” (J. Renoir, op. cit., p.115). They all gave preference to live nature and were outraged by Gleyre’s disdain to landscapes.

      Lady’s Cove

      Alfred Sisley, 1897

      Oil on canvas, 65.5 × 81.2 cm

      Private collection

      It nevertheless was difficult to complain about any kind of constraint in Gleyre’s studio. This education included the study of ancient sculpture, paintings by Raphael and Ingres in the Louvre. In fact, Gleyre’s pupils were completely free. Still, Monet, Bazille, Renoir and Sisley left their instructor very early, in 1863. The rumor was that the studio was closing down because of a lack of money and the state of Gleyre’s health.

      Flowers in a Vase

      Auguste Renoir, 1866

      Oil on canvas, 81.3 × 65.1 cm

      National Gallery of Art, Washington

      In the spring of 1863 Bazille wrote to his father, “Mr. Gleyre is quite sick, it appears that he is threatened by the loss of sight. All the students are strongly afflicted by this because he is strongly liked by those who approach him” (F. Daulte, op. cit., p. 29). But this was not the only reason why they completed their formal education. Perhaps they felt that over the time they had spent in the studio, they had acquired from their instructor everything possible.

      The Bougival Bridge

      Claude Monet, 1870

      Oil on canvas, 56.41 × 92.39 cm

      The Currier Gallery of Art

      Manchester, New Hampshire

      They were young and passionate. A new aesthetical idea attracted them and encouraged them to get out of the studio into the midst of actual modern life. One day, coming back from Gleyre’s, Bazille, Monet, Sisley and Renoir stopped by the café ‘La Closerie des Lilas’, at the corner of Boulevard du Montparnasse and Avenue de l’Observatoire where they had long discussions about further ways of painting. Bazille brought a new friend of his, Camille Pissarro.

      Barges

      Alfred Sisley, ca. 1870

      Oil on canvas, 69 × 100 cm

      Musée de Dieppe, Dieppe

      The members of this small group called themselves the “Intransigeants”. Together they dreamt of a new Renaissance. Natural objects presented professional interest for the future Impressionists. Most likely a certain part in their instantaneous turn to nature was played by the appearance to the public, in the same year of 1863, of the work of Edouard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass (Musée d’Orsay, Paris).

      Orchestral Musicians

      Edgar Degas, 1870–71

      Oil on canvas, 62 × 49 cm

      Städtisches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt

      This painting impressed the young artists to the same extent as it impressed the public and the critics. Manet, who had taken the first steps away from the classical school, had already started doing what they had dreamt of. He had already turned to a more modern approach of painting. Many years later, Renoir told his son about this with excitement.

      Bordeaux Harbour

      Edouard Manet, 1871

      Oil on canvas, 65 × 100 cm

      Foundation E. G. Bührle, Zürich

      Jean Renoir wrote, “the ‘Intransigeants’ aspired to fix the canvases with their direct perceptions without any transposition (…). The official school, imitation of imitations of the schoolmasters, is dead. Renoir and his companions are alive. (…). The reunions of the “Intransigeants” are passionate because of their burning desires to communicate with the public, and of their will to discover the truth. The ideas burst (…). The one idea that they proposed very seriously was to burn the Louvre” (J. Renoir, op. cit., pp. 120–121).

      The Flood at Port-Marly

      Alfred Sisley, 1872

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