Reflections 15 - The 19th and Early 20th Century Galleiues

 The 19th and early 20th century  galleries, especially the Impressionist and post-Impressionist galleries,  always seem crowded - I suspect the Met could make a go of it on ticket sales if it consisted only of these  rooms and the Egyptian collection (which has the advantage of being on the ground floor and containing mummies). I know that these were my mother's favorite galleries.  It's worth asking why they are so popular.

I suspect that the answer lies in the fact that many paintings display a combination of originality of technique (or at least what felt original 150 years ago) and of familiarity  We take pleasure in the free brushwork -  the broad swaths of color, but especially the small dabs that we see as leaves or flowers or as ripples or foam in a  body of water, and that give the paintings a shimmering quality. 

The images are familiar in that they are representational - abstraction hasn't yet entered the picture. In all but a few cases, we can recognize what is being depicted - a landscape, a street scene, a vase of flowers, a person. The pictures are, in this way, easy on the brain. Moreover, they depict everyday life. Figures are ones we can relate to, not gods, whether Christian or pagan, or the grandly gesturing heroes of history painting. 

Finally, the subjects of the paintings generally remind us of things we enjoy - the beauty of flowers, or the  lithe bodies of dancers, And who doesn't love Paris?  On one hand, Paris made the Impressionists; on the other hand, our notions of what Paris looks like - broad boulevards, elegant buildings, green parks - are themselves shaped by the Impressionists. 

In the 19th century, the artistic capital of the world may have shifted from Rome to Paris. But, as I've learned, Paris was not the only artistic center during the 19th century. And painters other than Impressionists and Post-Impressionists have impressed me - especially Courbet, with his honest, unglamorizing portraits. As familiar as some of the works in these galleries are,  there is abundant room for new discoveries.