Les Enfants de l’Impressionnisme

Thanks to exceptional support from the Musée d’Orsay, spring 2023 sees the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny stage an exhibition dedicated to the varied aspects of the lives of children in the late 19^th century, Les Enfants de l’Impressionnisme (The Children of Impressionism).

How did the great masters of Impressionism, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro, depict their own families and other families to whom they were close? What do their works say about the condition of children in that period? And what kind of parents were they?

Under the French 3^rd Republic, as statesman Jules Ferry strove to put in place education for the working classes, artists tackled the subject of children in modern society, focusing on such themes as motherhood, learning, play, outings to the beach and to parks, adolescence, daydreaming, and more… Ranging from youngsters able to enjoy a relative degree of freedom to those still subjected to the rigours of a strict education, a widening variety of ways existed in which to develop from adolescence to adulthood before the First World War.

What did it mean to be the son or daughter of an Impressionist painter?

The exhibition Les Enfants de l’Impressionnisme brings together around 100 works, including pieces by Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot.

The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny invites visitors to look beyond idyllic images of childhood to observe in greater depth private scenes of Impressionist family life. The exhibition also extends its exploration of childhood to children and adolescents today, via photography and contemporary videos.