ONE OF MOST IMPORTANT 19TH-CENTURY FRENCH LANDSCAPISTS,
CHARLES FRANÇOIS DAUBIGNY, SUBJECT OF LONG OVERDUE
INTERNATIONAL SURVEY
MAJOR EXHIBITION WILL RECONSIDER SOURCES OF IMPRESSIONISM
THROUGH KEY PAINTINGS BY DAUBIGNY,
MONET, PISSARRO AND VAN GOGH
EXHIBITION OPENS FEB. 20, 2016, AT TAFT MUSEUM OF ART,
THE EXCLUSIVE U.S. VENUE
CINCINNATI, Ohio –Pushing the boundaries of traditional landscape painting, Charles François
Daubigny (1817–78) was a vital touchstone and mentor for the subsequent generation of avantgarde artists now widely celebrated as the Impressionists. In the 1850s and 1860s, Daubigny
routinely painted outdoors to directly capture qualities of light and atmosphere, launched a
floating studio boat on French waterways that fundamentally changed the way artists could
frame their compositions, employed radical painterly techniques and exhibited sketch-like works
that critics assailed as “mere impressions.” Though an inspiration to artists such as Claude
Monet, Camille Pissarro and Vincent Van Gogh, Daubigny is now relatively unknown. Until this
year he has never been the subject of a major international exhibition, and no exhibition has
previously examined Daubigny’s profound influence upon the Impressionists and in turn their
influence on his late style.
Co-organized by the Taft Museum of Art, the Scottish National Gallery and the Van Gogh
Museum, Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape revises our understanding of
the origins of Impressionism by reconsidering Daubigny as a central figure in the development of
19th-century French landscape painting, including Impressionism. The groundbreaking
exhibition will be on view at the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio, the sole U.S. venue,
from Feb. 20 through May 29, 2016. It will travel to the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh
and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam later in 2016 and in early 2017.
In addition to one of the Taft’s Daubigny paintings, which prompted the exhibition,
Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape will also feature spectacular loans
from numerous North American and European museums—including the Art Institute of
Chicago; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; National Gallery, London; Museum of Fine Arts,
Bordeaux; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam—and private
collections.
“Conceived at the Taft, this very special exhibition reflects the museum’s strength in
European art and its strong relationships with a host of distinguished international institutions,”
said Taft Director and CEO Deborah Emont Scott. “We are thrilled to bring this stellar group of
European works of art to our greater Cincinnati, regional and national audiences.”
Of the 55 paintings in the exhibition, approximately 40 masterpieces by Daubigny will
showcase the full range of the artist’s achievements over four decades, including both small easel
paintings created outdoors and grand-scale paintings completed in the studio for exhibition. The
remainder of the works on view will offer fascinating and often surprising comparisons with
Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Vincent
Van Gogh, revealing Daubigny’s impact on and importance for two subsequent generations of
artists, the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionist Van Gogh.
“This exhibition stakes a claim for Daubigny’s inadequately recognized achievements as a
powerful innovator and precursor to one of the most original art historical movements of all
time,” said Lynne Ambrosini, Director of Collections and Exhibitions and Curator of European
Art at the Taft Museum of Art. Ambrosini is the initiating curator (and one of five curators) of
the exhibition.
In the vanguard of artists who privileged and embraced the immediacy of open-air painting,
Daubigny invented the studio boat and was the first to paint views surrounded by water instead
of from the riverbanks. This pioneering compositional technique of stripping away conventional
foregrounds to more directly observe nature and capture the effects of light, as well as his
radically unfinished painting style and brighter palette, had a powerful influence on the young
Impressionists.
Highlights of the exhibition include Daubigny’s images of silvery light and reflections along
the Seine and Oise rivers, stormy atmospheric effects at the Normandy coast, dramatic moonlit
landscapes, views of lush fields and scenes of blossoming orchards in the countryside outside
Paris—the last another subject he invented. These subjects were soon taken up by Monet and
Pissarro, whose similarly themed works will also be featured, for example Pissarro’s The Banks
of the Oise near Pontoise (1873, Indianapolis Museum of Art), which echoes Daubigny’s
compositions, and Monet’s Autumn on the Seine, Argenteuil, (1873, High Museum of Art,
Atlanta, Georgia), which was painted from Monet’s emulative studio boat. Daubigny’s
panoramic views of the sunny grain-fields near Auvers were admired by Van Gogh, who adopted
Daubigny’s then famous double-wide canvas formats for his own pictures of the plains near
Auvers. The final section of the exhibition presents five masterpieces by Van Gogh that reveal
his debt to Daubigny, including Daubigny’s Garden (1890, R. Staechelin Collection, Basel,
Switzerland), which exhibits Van Gogh’s signature swirling intensity.
Exhibition Support
Major support for the exhibition has been provided by Mr. and Mrs. Randolph L.
Wadsworth Jr., the National Endowment for the Arts, the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr/U.S.
Bank Foundation, CFM International, The Thomas J. Emery Memorial, Stillson Foundation,
Fifth Third Bank, Phillip and Whitney Long, Rich and Debbie Oliver, the Daniel and Susan Pfau
Foundation and the William S. Rowe Foundation. Additional support for this exhibition came
from numerous generous friends of the Taft Museum of Art.
This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and
Humanities.
Tickets
Admission to the Taft Museum of Art is $15, which includes entrance to the special
exhibition as well as the rest of the museum. Sunday admission is $5, which includes entrance to
the special exhibition and youth and children are free. Timed tickets will be available for
purchase at www.taftmuseum.org beginning Jan. 19.
About the Artist
From relatively humble beginnings in Paris, Daubigny rose over the course of a long and
eventually acclaimed and successful career to help redefine French landscape painting. As a
teenager he worked at the Louvre restoring paintings and subsequently began studies with artists
Pierre-Asthasie-Théodore Sentiès and Paul Delaroche. Daubigny’s travel to Italy and extensive
working trips in France inspired his rural and river views of his country, which were exhibited
and recognized at the annual Salons along with compositions by his peers, including Camille
Corot, Gustave Courbet, Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet.
Publication
A fully illustrated 176-page catalogue presenting significant new research about early
Impressionism, Daubigny and Van Gogh by leading scholars in the field will accompany the
exhibition. Essayists include the Taft’s Lynne Ambrosini, with two essays on Daubigny’s legacy
and on the market for his landscapes; Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery,
who explores Daubigny’s river scenes; Maite van Dijk, Curator of Paintings, Van Gogh Museum
(VGM), on Daubigny and Impressionists in the 1860s; Frances Fowle, Senior Curator of French
Art, Scottish National Gallery, who considers Auvers-sur-Oise as a site of artistic production;
Nienke Bakker, Curator of Paintings, VGM, who examines Van Gogh’s admiration of and
responses to Daubigny; and René Boitelle, Senior Paintings Conservator, VGM, on Daubigny’s
late painting techniques. The catalogue will be published by the National Galleries of Scotland
and distributed by ACC Distribution, USA and UK.
Audio Tour
A free audio tour will be available to visitors at www.taftmuseum.org and at the museum
during the run of the exhibition. Podcast technology will deliver the tour to smartphones and
allow visitors to hear excerpts from Daubigny’s letters and the reactions of contemporary writers
to his exhibited works, as well as insightful commentary by Ambrosini.
Affiliated Programs
A wealth of immersive public programs will be presented at the Taft Museum of Art in
conjunction with the exhibition, including docent-led and curator-led tours; a four-week midday
lecture series entitled “Daubigny and the Road to Impressionism”; two related lectures exploring
France and the leisure class in the 19th century by Indiana University cultural historian Kevin
Robbins; and an artist talk by Kevin Muente, who will respond to the works of Daubigny.
Program registration begins Jan. 19.
Additional special programs will include:
Vive La France, Sunday, March 20, 1–4 pm
Grab your beret and head to the Taft for a day of French culture! Learn some French
words at the Art Cart, play traditional French games with the Alliance Française de Cincinnati,
and channel your inner Monet by creating an Impressionist artwork. A wandering mime from the
Cincinnati Circus Company will delight kids of all ages. Free; no reservations required.
Symposium: Daubigny, Monet, Pissarro, Van Gogh, Saturday, April 16, 9 am–5:30 pm
Join a range of experts for an engaging day of talks and panel discussion about Daubigny
and his innovations, working methods and influence on other major artists. $30 members and
museum professionals, $45 non-members, $20 students. (Includes museum and special
exhibition admission. Box lunch and coffee/tea service included with registration fee.)
From Palette to Palate: The Art and Food of the Impressionists, Sunday May 1, 2:30 pm
Inspired by recipes featured in Claire Joyes’s Monet’s Table: The Cooking Journals of
Claude Monet, Taft Executive Chef Luke Radkey and Manager of School and Docent Programs
Lisa Morrisette will present a visual and culinary menu of art and food inspired by the
Impressionists. $10 members, $15 non-members.
French Weekend in Cincinnati, May 6–7
Experience the Taft’s special exhibition then hear and taste the wonders of France in one
weekend, thanks to a partnership with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Internationally acclaimed
conductor Louis Langrée, music director for the CSO, will offer a program featuring
French organist Thierry Escaich. Visit www.cincinnatisymphony.org/frenchweekend or call the
CSO Box Office at 513-381-3300 for more information. Last, but not least, taste the delicacies of
France at the restaurants of acclaimed chef, Jean-Robert de Cavel.
Art à la Carte, Friday, May 13, 5–8 pm
Join us for a special evening program and experience French art and culture in a fun and
informal environment. Explore masterpieces in Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of
Landscape, along with French music, film, art activities and a French culture café with cash bar
and light refreshments. This program is for adults (18 and over). Free for members, $15 nonmembers (includes admission to the museum and special exhibition). Reservations are required:
513-684-4516 or www.taftmuseum.org
International Tour
Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape will subsequently appear at the
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh from June 25 through Oct. 2, 2016 and the Van Gogh
Museum, Amsterdam from Oct. 21, 2016 through Jan. 29, 2017.
About the Taft Museum of Art
Once home to Charles and Anna Taft—President William Howard Taft’s half-brother and
his wife—he Taft Museum of Art is one of the finest small art museums in the U.S. The
museum, which opened to the public in 1932, houses Charles and Anna Taft’s renowned
collections of European old master and 19th-century paintings, American art, European sculpture
and decorative arts, and Chinese porcelain in a downtown 1820 National Historic Landmark and
graceful 2004 addition. The Taft Museum of Art is dedicated to providing captivating,
exceptional and accessible visual experiences with truly great art through its collections,
exhibitions and programs. Its special exhibitions are designed to bring the collection to life in
dynamic new ways for diverse audiences.
The Taft Museum of Art is supported in part by the generosity of individuals and businesses
that give annually to ArtsWave. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Museum with state tax
dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all
Ohioans. The Taft Museum of Art is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
The Taft Museum of Art is located at 316 Pike St., in downtown Cincinnati. For current
hours and admission prices, please visit www.taftmuseum.org.
Media Contacts
Lynnette Werning, APR, Blue Water Communications: 800-975-3212,
[email protected]
Emma Caro, Director of PR and Marketing, Taft Museum of Art: 513-684-4526,
[email protected]