Les Enfants De L'impressionnisme

Exhibition at the Musée des Impressionismes, Giverny, 31 March - 2 July 2023

The Impressionist masters were passionate about describing their families, but also those of their friends, merchants and patrons. Children had a special place in this. At a time when the Third Republic was developing an active policy of education for the working classes and Jules Ferry was becoming its hero, artists took up the subject of children in the light of modern society.

In this exhibition catalogue, a hundred or so works, including those by Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Pissarro, Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot, tell the story of childhood and adolescence. Through different themes - maternity, nannies, artists' children, education, gardens, games, beaches, animals, adolescence and daydreams - the book shows the ambiguity of the theme, beyond an archetypal representation of children.