Around Impressionism: paintings at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille

The museum has a good selection of paintings from the school of Barbizon (Corot, Courbet, and Harpignies)

Le Pâtre aux deux chèvres ou Effet du matin - The shepherd with two goats or Morning effect – Oil on canvas (around 1865) by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (Paris 1796 – Ville-d’Avray, 1875)

This is a typical example of Corot’s style and choice of subject.

Hêtraie dans la forêt de Fontainebleau – Beeches in the forest of Fontainebleau - Oil on canvas by Constant Dutilleux (Douai, 1807 – Paris, 1865)

Dutilleux discovered the forest of Fontainebleau, near Paris, and went there to pain on the advice of Corot. He is not very well known in France but I will look for his work when visiting museums in the future. This woodland painting shows an accomplished use of the dapple light and I really like it.

Le Parlement de Londres – London Parliament – Oil on canvas (1904) by Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926)

This oil painting of the London Parliament is part of the series of eleven paintings done by Monet while he stayed in London. The subject is viewed from a windon of Saint-Thomas Hospital, on the other side of the Thames. Monet played with the atmospheric eeriness of the light and colours caused by London’s thick smog (with coal burnt to heat the city, pollution was high in the capital city at that time with the smoke and the fog adding their effects on the landscape).

Vétheuil, le matin – Vétheuil, in the morning – Oil on canvas by Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926)

This painting has very subtle variations of colours that are difficult to catch on camera. Monet captured very well the haze of the morning.

La débâcle – Ice melting – Oil on canvas (1880) by Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926)

The great winter followed by warmer weather created ice melting and blocks of ice carried by the water of the Seine River.

Après la débâcle, La Seine au pont de Suresnes – After the ice melting, The Seine River at the bridge in Suresnes – Oil on canvas (1880) by Alfred Sisley (Paris, 1839 – Moret-sur-Loing, 1899)

Sisley completed this painting the same winter than Monet did the one above. Notice the dramatic role played by the sky in Sisley’s painting.

Port Marly, gelée blanche - Port Marly, hoarfrost - Oil on canvas (1872) by Alfred Sisley (Paris, 1839 – Moret-sur-Loing, 1899)

The composition works really well with successive triangles on the left leading the eye towards the horizon. The mouvement is also brought by the foreground being in the shade while the background is bathed in the morning light. I like the use of complimentary blue and orange colours in the background to depict the fresh autumn morning.

Route de Versailles à Louveciennes – Road from Versailles to Louveciennes – Oil on canvas (1895) by Auguste Renoir.

The same road has been painted by Monet and Pissarro 25 years earlier. The brush strokes and luminous colours are typical of Renoir’s work.

Dans l’atelier, la pose du modèle – In the studio, live model posing – Oil on canvas by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Albi, 1864 – Château de Malromé, Gironde, 1901

The artist selected a very elongated canvas for this painting.

With Edouard Vuillard, we see the legacy of the Impresionist period. The artist belonged to the Nabis mouvement (with the like of Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard, and Maurice Denis). The still life paintings on show are influenced by Japonism.

Fleurs dans un vase – Flowers in a vase – Oil on canvas (1905) by Edouard Vuillard (Cuiseaux, 1868 – La Baule, 1940)

Note: unfortunately, the painting is under glass and you can see the reflection of a large window that was behind the painting.

Fleurs– Flowers– Oil on canvas (1904) by Edouard Vuillard (Cuiseaux, 1868 – La Baule, 1940)

The museum

The museum is located on the Place de la République – 59000 – Lille – France
Postal address: 18bis rue de Valmy – 59000 – Lille – France
http://www.pba-lille.fr/

Opening hours

Monday, 2pm – 6pm
Closed Tuesday
Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 6pm

Tickets sold until one half hour before closing

Closed: 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, the first weekend of September (braderie de Lille), 1 November, and 25 December


Summer hours (July and August):

Monday, 12pm – 5pm
Closed Tuesday
Wednesday to Sunday, 12am – 5pm


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20th century paintings at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille