March 2 - July 11, 2022
Musée de l'Orangerie
"It has been my lifelong dream to paint walls." (Edgar Degas, in Ambroise Vollard, En écoutant Cézanne, Degas, Renoir, 1938)
Throughout their careers the Impressionists produced decorations. Of various nature and status, these works were intended to
create a harmonious effect within domestic spaces. Whether commissions from clients and patrons,or formal experiments executed on a variety of supports, these
artworks range from large-scale mural paintines to small objects, fans and dinner plates. All demonstrate the Impressionists'
ongoing interest in decoration and their remarkable creativity in this field. Exploring a hitherto little-known aspect
of Impressionism, this exhibition brings together for the first time a selection ofdecorative works created by these artists:
from early, experimental paintings and objects, to the largest and most ambitious of all Impressionist decorations - Monet's
Waterlilies, which the artist called his "grandes décorations", installed at the Orangerie almost a hundred years ago and visible on its main floor.
Depicting scenes from modern life, luminous landscapes or gardens brimming with flowers, revisiting earlier models or inventing new ones, these Impressionist
of a much-loved artistic movement, and to enjoy it afresh.