Opening tomorrow: 100+ masterpieces dazzle in French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 

Melbourne ,5 June 2025

Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot and more head to Melbourne for the NGV’s international-exclusive presentation of the major Melbourne Winter Masterpieces® exhibition, French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 6 June 2025. Presented by the NGV in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), an institution renowned world-wide for its rich holdings of Impressionist paintings, the exhibition features more than 100 iconic paintings, including additional works never-before-seen in Australia.

Originally presented at NGV in 2021, the exhibition closed just after it opened due to the global pandemic. The 2025 presentation of French Impressionism gives Australian audiences a rare, second chance to experience one of the largest and most significant collections of French Impressionism ever to visit Australia – all exclusively on loan to the NGV from the MFA’s renowned collection in Boston.

French Impressionism charts the trajectory of the late-nineteenth century artistic movement, highlighting the key figures at the centre of this period of radical experimentation who boldly rejected the conventions of the state-sponsored Salon and exhibited their ‘impressionistic’ works independently. The exhibition evokes the artistic energy and intellectual dynamism of the period by placing emphasis on the thoughts and observations of the artists themselves, as captured through letters, journals and articles. Their voices reveal the social connections, artistic influences and personal rivalries that united the group of rebellious practitioners at the centre of this new art movement.

Moving through a brand-new immersive exhibition design, audiences will experience the hallmarks of Impressionism, including distinctive brushwork, unique points of view, arresting use of colour, as well as places dear to the artists, such as Paris, Fontainebleau Forest, Pontoise, Giverny, the Normandy coast and the South of France. Many artists also recorded movement and change in urban and domestic realms; still life paintings, intimate interiors and modern urban subjects will also feature.

An exhibition highlight will be a breathtaking display of 16 canvases in one gallery by Claude Monet. Painted over a thirty-year period, these paintings depict many of Monet’s most beloved scenes of nature in Argenteuil, the Normandy coast, the Mediterranean coast and his extraordinary garden in Giverny. Together, these paintings demonstrate the full scope of the artist’s immeasurable contribution to the Impressionist movement.

MFA Boston’s significant collection of French Impressionism benefitted from the collecting efforts of individual Bostonians, some of whom visited the artists in France during the height of the movement.

These masterworks will be displayed within a reimagined immersive exhibition design developed especially for this new presentation of French Impressionism. Referencing late nineteenth century East Coast American and European interiors, the exhibition’s design will bring forth the stories of the artists, exhibitions and collectors that shaped this renowned movement in art history.

On Saturday 7 June to mark the opening of the exhibition a series of talks expanding on the themes of the exhibition will offer further insight into the works and artists on display. Dr Katie Hanson the William and Ann Elfers Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston will give a keynote talk titled Manet, Meurent and Modern Paris, presented in partnership with HSBC.

Offering further insight into the development of the Impressionist movement and the key figures involved, a one day course will be presented at NGV International on Saturday 16 August.

Steve Dimopoulos, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, said: ‘These are paintings rarely seen outside the US and are part of a movement that transformed the art world – so we’re extremely proud to be supporting this exhibition which will be a huge drawcard for visitors. The Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series has had an impressive effect on the state’s economy over the past two decades, with millions of people not just visiting the NGV but flooding our restaurants, bars and cafes as well.’

Colin Brooks, Minister for Creative Industries, said: ‘This exhibition cements Melbourne’s reputation as Australia’s cultural and creative capital, drawing global masterpieces and art lovers from around the world to experience everything our city has to offer.’

Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV said: ‘More than 150 years after the first exhibition of French Impressionist paintings were presented in Paris, the movement remains a beloved and powerful drawcard for audiences worldwide. French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston offers Australians a rare opportunity to view 100 timeless masterpieces in person and experience first-hand the bold brushwork and vivid colours synonymous with these artists’

Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, said: ‘We are delighted to have a second chance to share this meaningful exhibition with the people of Australia. French Impressionism is truly a revelation that brings together masterpieces of this transformational moment in the history of art—and foregrounds the voices of the artists at the center of it all. We are grateful to the National Gallery of Victoria for their partnership and their extraordinary vision in creating an experience for visitors that is truly one of a kind.’

The 2025 exhibition will feature three additional works from the MFA Boston’s collection including Self-portrait, c. 1876, by Victorine Meurent. Best known for being Édouard Manet’s favourite model (and appearing in renowned works such as Street Singer, 1862, which also features in this exhibition), she was also an artist in her own right and successfully entered a work into the Paris Salon in 1876 and again in 1879.  In Self-portrait, Meurent paints herself in partial profile, her shoulders enrobed in butter yellow silk with a deep purple bow tied at her breast.

Alongside the new work by Victorine Meurent, another addition to the exhibition is The Garlic Seller, c. 1880, a painting by Jean-François Raffaëlli, who was a prominent presence in the fifth and sixth Impressionist exhibitions. Raffaëlli took an interest in painting the people and the sights he encountered in Paris’s outer suburbs. Both paintings have never been exhibited previously in Australia.

Also joining the ten other works by Degas included in this exhibition is the 1869-72 painting Degas’s Father Listening to Lorenzo Pagans Playing the Guitar. In this intimate double portrait, the artist has captured his father engrossed in listening to Spanish singer and musician Lorenzo Pagans. This painting recently underwent a dramatic conservation treatment and this will be the first time it will be on display post-treatment

A unique section of the exhibition also examines early works by Monet and his forebears, Eugène Boudin and painters of the Barbizon School rarely exhibited in Australia. These works illustrate their profound influence on Monet’s use of the then radical method of painting outdoors en plein air (‘in the open air’) to capture changing conditions in nature. The exhibition also explores in-depth the careers of Renoir and his experimentation with pictorial effects in the 1880s, and Pissarro and his role as mentor to a number of other artists.

Two featured works were displayed in the first exhibition organised by the group of artists now referred to as the Impressionists in 1874, which celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2024. These include Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s still life painting Mixed flowers in an earthenware pot, c. 1869, and Edgar Degas’ At the races in the countryside, 1869, which depicts a family in a horse-drawn carriage. Degas provides immediacy to the work through his abrupt compositional cropping, with part of the carriage cropped out of the frame.

In 2025, the exhibition will also feature three Impressionist works from the NGV Collection, allowing visitors to see these beloved works for the first time in their broader context. They include Berthe Morisot’s Embroidery, 1889, which depicts the artist’s daughter and step-niece embroidering a dynamically rendered textile, and Paul Signac’s Gasometers at Clichy, 1886, one of the first works painted by Signac according to the Neo-Impressionist principles of placing blocks of colour side by side. Louise Abbéma’s portrait of her close friend, Renée Delmas de Pont-Jest, will also be included in the exhibition. Abbéma was a painter, sculptor, designer and ever-present figure in the art world of fin-de-siècle France and in 1906 she became only the fourth woman to be decorated with the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest order of merit.

French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is on display 6 June to 5 October 2025 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Further information is available via the NGV website.

For more information on talks and programs visit the NGV website: www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/programs-events/