Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity to Open at the Metropolitan Museum on February 26

The latest fashion . . . is absolutely necessary for a painting. It’s what matters most.
—Édouard Manet, 1881
 
Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity at The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents a revealing look at the role of fashion in the works of the Impressionists and their contemporaries.
 
Nearly 80 paintings by Impressionist masters such as Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Caillebotte, Seurat, and others are on loan from museums all over the world for the exhibition.
Highlights of the exhibition include Monet’s Luncheon on the Grass (1865-66) and Women in the Garden (1866), Bazille’s Family Reunion (1867), Bartholomé’s In the Conservatory (Madame Bartholomé) (ca.1881, paired with the sitter’s dress), and 16 other key loans from the Musée d’Orsay; Monet’s Camille (1866) from the Kunsthalle Bremen, Renoir’s Lise (Woman with Umbrella) (1867) from the Museum Folkwang, Essen, and Manet’s The Parisienne (ca. 1875) from the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, which have never before traveled to the U.S.; Caillebotte’s Paris Street; Rainy Day (1877) and Degas’s The Millinery Shop (ca.1882-86) from the Art Institute of Chicago; Renoir’s The Loge (1874) from The Courtauld Gallery, London; and Cassatt’s In the Loge (1878) from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
 
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. After its display in New York (February 26 – May 27, 2013), the exhibition will travel to the Art Institute of Chicago (June 26–September 22, 2013).
To learn more about the French Impressionists, do not forget to pick up Museyon Guide: Art+Paris Impressionists & Post Impressionists at the Metropolitan Museum store.