Hosted by Geelong Gallery
In a landmark moment for its 130th year, Geelong Gallery, in partnership with Art Exhibitions Australia and ACPA Advising Curating Producing Art, is proud to present Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel, Art Dealer Among the Artists, the most ambitious international exhibition in the Gallery’s history. Running from 20 June to 11 October, the exhibition flows across five galleries, presenting more than 60 paintings from across two generations of Impressionist artists, the majority from private collections in France and never before seen in Australia. Underpinning it all is the remarkable legacy of Paul Durand-Ruel—the art dealer who staked everything on a movement the establishment refused to accept.
Throughout the Gallery, works by Monet, Renoir, Berthe Morisot, and Camille Pissarro hang in direct dialogue with a second generation of painters long overshadowed by their illustrious predecessors: Albert André, Georges d'Espagnat, Gustave Loiseau, Maxime Maufra and Henry Moret. Championed by Durand-Ruel in Impressionism’s twilight years, these artists are now being rediscovered, and Geelong Gallery is thrilled to offer audiences a rare and overdue encounter with their work. Never before toured outside Europe and the United Kingdom, Discovering the Impressionists is the first of its kind to trace their story alongside the man who made it possible.
Among the highlights are rare decorative panels by André and d'Espagnat, painted for the doors of Durand-Ruel's private Paris apartment, and a partial recreation of the drawing room in which he received esteemed collectors and displayed the finest works from his collection. Together, first and second generation works illuminate the shared approaches to light and atmosphere that defined the movement, as well as the strikingly distinct personal styles that set each artist apart.
Paul Durand-Ruel (1831–1922) was not himself a painter, but an art dealer of uncommon conviction who, at a time when Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and their peers were ridiculed and commercially shunned, bought their work, nurtured their cause and ultimately transformed public taste across Europe and America. Over a lifetime devoted to art, he purchased and promoted over 12,000 paintings to ensure Impressionism became known and loved around the world.
