Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity at the Met

Last Friday the husband and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to check out their exhibit: Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity. Unfortunately no photography of the exhibit was allowed, so all photos here are accredited to the museum.

"The latest fashion . . . is absolutely necessary for a painting. It's what matters most."
—Édouard Manet, 1881

Fashion was, apparently, very important to the Impressionists and thus many of the paintings that we recognize as iconic. I've never really thought about this before, perhaps because an old dress is simply an old dress to me. I may be fashion-attentive to today's styles, but the modes and styles on the 19th century elude me. Who knew that a certain ribbon, overlay or color would have been considered particularly fashionable? Who knew that Manet and Monet cared so much that the ladies they painted be at the height of fashion? It's a little surprising, and certainly thrilling to learn that they did.

 

In some cases you can even see the dress that was used for a painting in the exhibit, such as the frock above which is featured in the painting to the left, In the Conservatory (Madame Bartholomé), by Albert Bartholomé.

I consider myself extremely lucky simply because one of my favorite Monet's, Femme à l'ombrelle tournée vers la droite, was on display. I haven't seen this beauty since I was last in Paris, as it is usually on view at the Musée d'Orsay.



This exhibit thrills for many reasons you would expect: the fashion, the color, and the way Impressionist compositions set their subjects on fire with halos of light. It also begs you to think on other aspects of the Impressionist movement that may be more easily forgotten or overlooked with exposure. Subjects stare out at you from off center, or with blurry faces- when they even face you at all. Inanimate objects can be given prized centered positioning while a subject is cast to the side. Garment hues are transformed by light and the mood of a painting. Unsavory or lewd (for the time) subject matter is given attention. These are hallmarks of Impressionism that are easily missed, but the exhibit at the Met demands your attention to them with clever justaposition of more classical paintings stationed next to their Impressionist counterparts.

I wish there had been more of these comparisons, but there certainly were enough to make a point: Impressionism may be the cult art of the masses (where it was once an estranged, and certainly loathed, distant relative), but it is most deservedly so.