French art

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, 1876

From Erwin, Netherlands

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, commonly known as Auguste Renoir (1841 – 1919), was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau.

 Dance at Le moulin de la Galette is housed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and is one of Impressionism's most celebrated masterpieces. The painting depicts a typical Sunday afternoon at Moulin de la Galette in the district of Montmartre in Paris. In the late 19th century, working class Parisians would dress up and spend time there dancing, drinking, and eating galettes.

 Edouard Manet: Jeanne, Spring, 1881

From Norbert, Netherlands

Édouard Manet  (1832 - 1883) was a French painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.

Jeanne de Marsy was a French actress during this time period and is the model for Manet's painting.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) Woman with a Parasol, facing left, 1886

From Angela, Germany

Oscar-Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting.

The woman stands on a riverbank against a background of pale blue sky. The young woman in picture is Suzanne Hoschedé, one of the daughters of Alice Hoschedé, who was to become Monet's second wife in 1889. His future stepdaughter Suzanne was to be for a long time one of the painter's favourite models.