Gotthardt Kuehl | Impressionist painter

Gotthardt Kuehl (28 November 1850 - 9 January 1915) was a German painter and a representative of early German Impressionism. He gained wide international recognition during his lifetime.

His father, Simon Kühl, was the Sexton and organist at St. Lorenz Church. He studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (1867) and the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, (1870).

From 1878-1889, he lived in Paris. He also made study trips to Italy and the Netherlands.

In 1888, he married Henriette Simonson-Castelli (1860-1921), daughter of the portrait painter, David Simonson.

Lori Putnam, 1962 | Modern Impressionist painter

Modern Impressionism stretches the boundaries with artists painting in styles ranging from near realism to almost abstraction. Putnam’s work is closer to the latter.

Recognized for her expressive brushwork, contemporary compositions, and intelligent use of color, Nashville Tennessee native, Lori Putnam paints small to medium-sized works en plein air and creates large paintings in her studio.

Having painted and taught in more than 20 different countries (including Ukraine, New Zealand, Guatemala, much of Europe and the UK), she believes that works created from life help her maintain freshness in her studio paintings as well.

Hans Herrmann | Genre painter

Johann Emil Rudolf Herrmann, known as Hans (8 March 1858, Berlin - 21 July 1942, Berlin) was a German landscape and genre painter. He specialized in scenes of the Netherlands.

He studied at the Prussian Academy of Arts with Otto Knille, Karl Gussow and Christian Wilberg.

From 1879-1882, he took classes in landscape painting from Eugen Dücker at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Regular study trips took him to France, Italy, and Holland, where he attended the "Art Summer School" of the American-born painter, George Hitchcock.

Claude Monet at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine.

It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898-1900.

The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848-1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture and photography.

It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet - 86 paintings (another main collection of his paintings is in the Musée Marmottan Monet) including The Saint-Lazare Station, The Rue Montorgueil in Paris. Celebration of 30 June 1878, Wind Effect, Series of The Poplars, Rouen Cathedral. Harmony in Blue, Blue Water Lilies, Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, Haystacks, The Magpie, Women in the Garden - Édouard Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and Van Gogh.

Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum's opening in 1986. It is one of the largest art museums in Europe.

Max Slevogt | Impressionist painter

Max Slevogt (8 October 1868 - 20 September 1932) was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes.

He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of the plein air style.

He was born in Landshut, Germany, in 1868. From 1885 to 1889 he studied at the Munich Academy, and his early paintings are dark in tone, exemplifying the prevailing style in Munich.

Theodor von Hörmann | Impressionist / Genre painter

Theodor von Hörmann (1840-1895) is regarded as the first and only Austrian impressionist painter.

He was born on December 13, 1840 in Imst in Tyrol. He set out to pursue a career as a military officer and taught gymnastics, fencing and freehand drawing in various military schools.

In 1869 Hörmann’s first artistic attempts began with copies of color prints.

He soon turned to painting in oil. In 1872, already 33 years old and totally self-taught, Hörmann began art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Eduard von Lichtenfels.

Among his classmates were the younger students Hugo Darnaut and and Hugo Charlemont. Hörmann gained access to Emil Jakob Schindler, the most important Austrian landscape painter of the period.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | The Wave / L'Onda, 1882

Each summer between 1879 and 1882 Pierre-Auguste Renoir traveled to Wargemont near Dieppe on the Normandy coast to visit his friend and patron Paul Bérard.

Renoir and Bérard, a banker and French diplomat, had met in 1878, when the artist was still struggling to find collectors for his Impressionist canvases.

Renoir and Bérard quickly formed a bond, leading to numerous commissioned portraits of the financier’s children and affording the artist a comfortable place to go for the summer well removed from the oppressive heat of Paris.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | The Wave, 1882 | Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, United States

Gustave Caillebotte at the Museum Barberini

Gustave Caillebotte | Couple on a Walk, 1881 | Museum Barberini

In the 1860s the seaside resorts in Normandy became the most popular summer retreats of the Parisian bourgeoisie. Here a young couple (likely the artist and his partner, Charlotte Berthier) are strolling past the luxurious Villa italiennein Trouville.

The red parasol adds an accent to the picture, in which fresh green tones are dominant. The depiction of the figures from behind allows viewers to put themselves in the role of the vacationers.

Every summer from 1880-1884, Gustave Caillebotte spent a number of weeks in Normandy, where he sailed in regattas and painted.

During this time he produced around fifty depictions of the area surrounding Trouville, a beach resort that had grown into a favorite holiday destination of the Parisian upper classes since the mid-nineteenth century.