Telfair Museums announced today a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition that brings four paintings of French master Claude Monet to Savannah for the first time in the city’s history. Monet and American Impressionism will be on display at the Jepson Center for the Arts from October 16, 2015 -- January 24, 2016. The museum will host a lively, French-country themed opening celebration on October 15 and will offer a variety of speakers, family days, painting workshops, and other activities during the run of the show.
 
“We invite visitors to bask in the open landscapes and idyllic afternoons portrayed in this beautiful exhibition,” said Telfair Museums director and CEO Lisa Grove. “As viewers move through dozens of paintings, they will see how Monet inspired some of the greatest American Impressionists of all time.”
 
Claude Monet (1840-1926) galvanized the work of countless artists as a founder of the French art movement called “Impressionism.” Monet’s use of bright colors, his loose brush strokes, and his focus on painting the fleeting effects of light were a shocking departure from traditional European art of the time.
 
Monet and other Paris-based artists introduced Impressionism to the French public in the 1870s, and beginning in the 1880s, American artists took up Monet’s modern approach to light and color. The movement was promoted by American artists, collectors, and art writers. Its popularity continued for forty years, making Impressionism one of the longest-lived and most enthralling artistic expressions in the history of American art.
 
“Leading American artists including Mary Cassatt, J. Alden Weir, and Childe Hassam adapted the innovations of French Impressionism and began to create a uniquely American style of painting,” said Courtney McNeil, Telfair Museums’ curator of fine arts and exhibitions. “In Monet and American Impressionism, the viewer can see how these artists captured moments from everyday life, including domestic scenes of women and children, sweeping landscapes, and images of modern life in American cities.”