“Across the Atlantic: American Impressionism through the French Lens”—drawn mostly from the collection of the Reading Public Museum in Reading, PA—explores the path to Impressionism through the 19th century in France. The show examines the relationship between French Impressionism of the 1870s and 1880s and the American interpretation of the style in the decades that followed.
More than 75 paintings and works on paper help tell the story of the “new style” of painting which developed at the end of the 19th century—one that emphasized light and atmospheric conditions, rapid or loose brushstrokes, and a focus on brightly colored scenes from everyday life. Scenes include both urban and rural settings from when artists preferred to paint outdoors and capture changing effects of light during different times of day and seasons of the year.
