Special Exhibition Gallery - Impressionists by the Sea

Impressionists by the Sea takes a wondering look back at how the northern coast of France evolved from shore communities (that lived off of fishing and shipping for centuries) to vacation spots for Parisians at leisure during the second half of the 19th Century. The full exhibition contains 60 paintings that focus first, in the 1860s, on the well-heeled sightseers who came and played, and later, in the 1880s, on the bounty of colors and light offered by the cliffs, sand and sea themselves. Indeed, what artist truly needs elements of human interest when the water sparkles like diamonds against peridots under an aquamarine sky in the early evening sunshine?

Included in this gallery is a selection of works from the larger exhibition organized by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford. Artists represented here include Eugène Boudin, Gustave Caillebotte, Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.