Following in the footsteps of Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir we analyse what was new about Impressionist landscape paintings: their experiments with colour theory, new synthetic pigments, and, most importantly, the distinctly modern landscape that they chose to depict.
We’ll be travelling by train, in and out of the Gare Saint Lazare in Paris, with boating trips and balloon excursions thrown in.
We’ll also consider the distinctively modern independent exhibitions mounted by the Impressionist group in Paris from 1874 onwards, and beyond that, Monet’s exploration of a new kind of modern landscape painting during the 1890s, epitomised by his series of Poplars, Haystacks and Rouen Cathedral, and culminating, at the end of his life, with his monumental Water Lilies.
Dr Lois Oliver studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, completing an MA in Venetian Renaissance Art and a PhD thesis entitled The Image of the Artist, Paris 1815-1855. She worked at the Harvard Art Museums before joining the curatorial team at the V&A and then the National Gallery, where she curated several exhibitions.
As Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Royal Academy she curated Jock McFadyen: Tourist without a Guidebook (2022). Currently Associate Professor in History of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, Lois is also co-curator of Berthe Morisot: Impressionism and the eighteenth century for Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, opening in April 2023.
She has written audio and multimedia tours for clients including the National Gallery, Royal Academy, Royal Collection, and Tate, and has appeared on BBC Radio and TV. Also a keen violinist, Lois plays regularly with the Endellion Festival Orchestra.