Levels 7-12
Join an NGV Educator live from the NGV for a short and lively introduction to one work from French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. To have your questions answered about the Wednesday Work of the Week send them in advance to education.bookings@ngv.vic.gov.au. The program recording will also be available to access for one week for booked participants.
Before Impressionism
Many of Impressionists were inspired, influenced and guided by the work of the artists who came before them. A group of artists known as the Barbizon School, loosely named after the French village, Barbizon, where they resided during painting sojourns to the nearby Forest of Fontainebleau, paved the way for the Impressionists. They were passionate about painting landscapes and worked outdoors to record realistic scenes of nature. This week, explore the influence of the Barbizon school through two exhibition artworks: Claude Monet’s, Woodgatherers at the edge of the forest, 1863 and Théodore Rousseau’s, Edge of the woods (Plain of Barbizon near Fontainebleau), 1850–60.
Learning Objectives
- Identify and describe the influence of the Barbizon painters on Claude Monet’s artistic practice.
- Analyse and interpret the themes, concepts and ideas captured in early works by the Impressionists.
- Discuss how the Impressionists used innovative materials, techniques and processes to realise their intentions in their artworks.
Duration: 15 mins
Cost: Free
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