Impressionism & Post-Impressionism
Discover The Courtauld Gallery’s Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection, featuring paintings by Monet, Degas, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Don’t miss world-famous masterpieces including Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère and Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
by Édouard Manet (1882)
This painting was Manet’s last major work. It represents the bustling interior of one of the most prominent music halls and cabarets of Paris, the Folies-Bergère. The venue opened in 1869 and its atmosphere was described as “unmixed joy”. In contrast, the barmaid in Manet’s representation is detached and marooned behind the bar.
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Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear
by Vincent van Gogh (1889)
This self-portrait was painted shortly after Van Gogh returned home from hospital having mutilated his own ear. The prominent bandage shows that the context of this event is important. Van Gogh depicts himself in his studio, wearing his overcoat and a hat. Is it cold in the studio, or is this a sign of a lack of permanence?
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Nevermore
by Paul Gauguin (1897)
Gauguin wrote to his friend and dealer Daniel de Monfreid that with Nevermore, he intended to use a ‘simple nude’ to suggest ‘a certain savage luxuriousness of a bygone age’. Gauguin viewed the painted surface itself as ‘luxurious’.
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Autumn Effect at Argenteuil
by Claude Monet (1873)
Monet’s focus is less on the modern city than the effects of the seasons, the reflections on the water, and the array of colours in the trees – from orange and pink to purple and green – , all evidence of his careful observation of fleeting moments.
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The Montagne Sainte-Victoire with a Large Pine
by Paul Cézanne (1887)
Whilst Cézanne focused mainly on the landscape around his home town, he turns this landscape into a study of form and colour.
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Two Dancers on a Stage
by Edgar Degas (1874)
Degas purchased permits that allowed him to observe rehearsals and backstage activity at the Opéra de Paris, and many of his paintings and sculptures concentrate on dancers off the stage, stretching or chatting.
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