Claude Monet (1840-1926), Detail of: Tulips at Sassenheim, 1880 

All images in chronological order, just a sample of this extraordinary collection. All photos by Alexander Boyle, unless otherwise noted.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Self Portrait, 1857 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, NY 1948

Honore Daumier (1808-1879), The Print Collectors, 1860 Purchased at Knoedler, London, 1925

1863: Date of the Salon de Refuses, an exhibition created to allay the outcry over young artists excluded from the official state sponsored Salon under Napoleon III.

Alfred Stevens (1823-1906), A Duchess (The Blue Dress), 1866 Purchased at Knoedler, London, 1920.

Claude Monet (1840-1926), A Street in Saint Address, 1867 Purchased at Knoedler, NY 1952.

1870-1871: Franco-Prussian War forces artists to flee, Paris occupied, Monet finds first patron abroad while in London meets Paul Durand-Ruel.

In an interview given to Gustave Cocquiot which was printed in the paper Excelsior on 28 November 1910, Durand-Ruel recalled his connections with the Impressionists, and in particular his attempts to sell their work in the mid 1870's.

Monet was the first one I met. Daubigny introduced him to me in London in 1870, and on his recommendation I became immediately interested in this artist , who had great talent. Solidly built and sturdy, he looked as though he could go on painting effortlessly for more years than I was likely to live. It is true of course that I was nine years older than Monet and Renoir; by nine years. when we got to Paris Monet came and brought me pictures, and I became his official dealer.

Two years later I got to know Renoir, and also about the same time Manet; then I established relations with Pissarro, Degas, Puvis de Chavannes and Sisley. I was then established in my present galleries in the rue Lafitte, and had been there sincee 1869. What a ghastly time for painting it was Had I not been the son of a picture dealer, who had started off the son of a stationer, if I had not, in a word been brought up in the trade, I could not have continued the battle I had to fight against public taste.

Edouard Manet (1832-1883), Interior at Arcachon, 1871 Purchased at Knoedler, NY 1943.

Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931), Guitar Player, 1872 Purchased at Knoedler, NY 1929.

Camille Pissaro (1830-1903), Piette's House, Mounfoucault, 1874 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, NY 1941.

1874: Date of First Impressionist exhibition

http://www.nadar1874.net/index_ing.htm

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Portrait of Madam Monet Reading, 1874 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, 1933.

Lucius Rossi (18456-1913), Young Woman Reading, 1875 Purchased from George Muller, Paris, 1937.

1876: Date of the Second Impressionist Exhibition

In the spring of 1876 the second Impressionist exhibition was held at 11 rue Le Peletier. There were nineteen participants, with 24 works by Degas, 12 by Pissarro, 18 by Monet, 15 each by Renoir and Sisly.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Portrait of a Man, 1877 Purchased by Knoedler for Robert Sterling Clark, 1919. 

1877: Date of the Third Impressionist Exhibition

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Entrance of the Masked Dancers, 1879 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, 1927.

1879: Date of the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Neapolitan Children Swimming, 1879 Purchased by Clark 1923

Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931), Return of the Fishing Boats, Etretat, 1879 Purchased at Knoedler, NY, 1929. 

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Dancers in the Classroom, 1880 Purchased at Knoedler, Paris, 1924.

1880: Date of the Fifth Impressionist Exhibition

Camille Pissaro (1830-1903), Boulevard Rochechouart, 1880 Purchased by the Clark Art Institute, 1996.

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), A Box at the Theatre, 1880 Purchased at William Holston Galleries, NY 1928.

Alfred Sisley (1840-1899), Banks of the Seine, 1880-1881 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, NY 1948. 

Alfred Stevens (1823-1906), The Parisian Sphinx, 1880 Purchased at Knoedler, Paris 1928.

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Bay of Naples, Evening, 1881 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, NY 1933

1881: Date of the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition 

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Onions, 1881 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1922.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Before The Race, 1882 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, NY 1939.

Edouard Manet (1832-1883), Moss Roses in a Vase, 1882 Purchased at Knoedler, Paris 1923.

Edouard Manet (1832-1883), Mery Laurent wearing a Small Toque, 1882 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, NY 1934.

1882: Date of the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition.

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), View at Guernsey, 1883 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, 1933.

1883: Death of Manet

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Double Portrait of Aline Gauguin 1883 On loan to the Clark Art Institute.

Claude Monet (1840-1926), Bridge at Dolceacqua, 1884 Donated to the Clark by Richard and Edna Salomon, 1985.

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Bather Arranging Her Hair, 1885 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1937.

Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), The Bath, 1885 Purchased at Knoedler, NY 1949.

Alfred Stevens (1823-1906), Moonlight (Au Clair de La Lune), 1885 Purchased at Scott & Fowles, NY 1930.

Claude Monet (1840-1926), Tulip Fields at Sassenheim, 1886 Purchased at Durand-Ruel, NY 1933.

1886: Date of the Eighth and final Impressionist Exhibition

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), Jane Avril, 1891-1892 Purchased at Wildenstein, NY 1940.

Alfred Sisley (1840-1899), The Loing and the Mills of Morel, Snow Effect, 1891 Purchased at Knoedler, NY 1946.

Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894), The Seine at Argenteuil, 1892 Donated to the Clark by George Heard and Polly Hamilton 1973.

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Port of Rouen, Unloading Wood, 1898 Purchased by Clark Institute at Alex Reid, London, 1989.

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), The Louvre from the Pont Neuf, Paris, 1902 Purchased at Knoedler, NY 1950.

May 1955: Clark Art Institute opens in Williamstown, MA

http://clarkart.edu/visit/directions

First published 2/4/2015 by Robert Alexander Boyle.