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About

From the prestigious collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, more than 70 masterpieces are presented, including paintings by Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Sisley, and an exceptional set of paintings by Augustus Renoir. Through this exhibition, it’s the story of Impressionism that is told.

Sterling et Francine Clark, a couple of great collectors


Most of the paintings in this exhibition were purchased by Robert Sterling Clark (1877–1956), and his wife, Francine Clary Clark (1876–1960), over the course of a forty year period, between 1910 and 1950, in which they built a
remarkable collection. Sterling Clark, an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, grew up in a wealthy New York family with parents who were themselves art collectors and
patrons. Clark began seriously acquiring art in 1912, when he was living in Paris. As a collector Clark was a maverick, disregarding the fashions of the art world and describing art historians as “lacking entirely an eye that appreciates
what is good.” Clark was a self-trained connoisseur, learning
through reading, visiting galleries, attending auctions, and developing relationships with art dealers – most notably the Durand-Ruel family.

A true passion for French artists

French painting from the Clark Collection presents masterpieces of late nineteenth-century art
featuring the full range of styles and trends of this dynamic period: naturalistic landscapes by artists of the Barbizon School, beautifully wrought pictures by academic and high-society painters, and decorative and evocative paintings of
the fin-de-siècle.

Exhibition organized by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.

On video

Watch the video of the exhibition

In images

Zoom on the works

Édouard Manet, Roses mousseuses dans un vase

  • Édouard Manet
  • Roses mousseuses dans un vase, 1882.
  • Huile sur toile, 55,9 x 34,6 cm

Pierre Bonnard, Femmes au chien

  • Pierre Bonnard
  • Femmes au chien, 1891.
  • Huile sur toile, 41 x 32,4 cm

Berthe Morisot, Le Bain

  • Berthe Morisot
  • Le Bain, 1885-1886.
  • Huile sur toile, 92,1 x 73,3 cm

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Une loge au théâtre (Au concert)

  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir
  • Une loge au théâtre (Au concert), 1880.
  • Huile sur toile, 99,4 x 80,7 cm

Patronage

Our patrons and partners

The museum warmly thanks the patrons and partners of this exhibition.

Patrons

  • Logo Caisse d’Epargne Normandie, mécène du musée des impressionnismes Giverny

Media partners