06 September 2017 | Cultural

Musée Marmottan

A delightful tribute to impressionism

 

 

In 1934, what was known as a former hunting lodge turned out to be the Marmottan museum. If names such as Monet, Pissarro ring a bell to you and if you are keen on the greatest painters of all the time, you have a place to go 😉

That museum is indeed a bit small but offers eclectic collections. The founding fathers of impressionism have their paintings exhibited there. The famous Nymphéas by Monet:

You will admire these paintings symbols of a new era. The connoisseurs will notice the play on the light, on the frames that give that sensation of infinity!

You will also love Pissaro, a friend of Monet, and a pioneer of the movement.His works of art such as “La jeune paysanne au chapeau de paille”, “Les boulevard extérieurs” are incredible. Of course, you have paintings from Sisley, Renoir… A bunch of artists who did not want to follow the Académie des Beaux arts expectations. To simplify, we have a breaking with the mainstream works of art depicting mythology or history scenes.

What I loved in that museum is the will to exhibit a series of portraits celebrating a “renewal” and a candid vision of the society. Not only do we have new patterns in the way of painting at the end of the 19th century, but we have a will to put children on the spotlights.

You may think that it is common, but the only children we use to see in the paintings were those belonging to the upper-class society. With the impressionism, the raw, true and simple society was also depicted. The crooks, the orphans, the prostitute deserved paintings too, according to the revolutionary artists.

On the other hand, the museum also houses collections of medieval illuminations! It shows how diverse and surprising the visit could be 😉

If you don’t know that many things about impressionism , you’d better take an audio guide

David