videos + essays
The conservator’s eye: Madame Cézanne in the Conservatory
Cézanne left graphite lines visible and ground open on this canvas, granting us access to his working process.
Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
Manet turns the tables—or in this case, the bar—on how we view painting.
Berthe Morisot, The Cradle
Lacking access to the cafes and bars male Impressionists painted, Morisot mastered intimate domestic interiors.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Beata Beatrix
In this tragic painting, Rossetti draws a comparison between himself and the medieval poet who shared his name.
Paul Cézanne, Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses)
The subject matter of this painting couldn’t be more traditional, but its formal characteristics make it modern.
Édouard Manet, Olympia
In this portrait of Olympia and Laure, Manet is inventing what beauty could be for the modern world.
Mary Cassatt, In the Loge
The subject looks through opera glasses, but she herself is the object of another man’s gaze—not to mention ours.
Auguste Renoir, The Large Bathers
One of the leaders of Impressionism turns his back on the movement and attempts to reclaim the classical nude.
Edgar Degas, Visit to a Museum
Mary Cassatt, an artist and close friend Degas, is the subject of this painting about the act of seeing.
Édouard Manet, Plum Brandy
The subject of this painting is breaking almost as many taboos as the artist who painted it.
Mary Cassatt, The Child’s Bath
Cassatt’s unusual angle in this intimate moment between mother and daughter shows the pair as we might see them.
Édouard Manet, In the Conservatory
The greenery surrounding this couple is lush and exotic, but it’s clear that there’s trouble in paradise.
