West Palm Beach, FL – The Norton Museum of Art announces Collecting the Impressionists: Masterpieces from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute which opens to the public on January 20, 2007.  Organized by the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, this exhibition includes works of genius by the most recognizable and revered names of Impressionism: Pierre Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Edgar Degas.  The dozen featured paintings were carefully selected to reveal the collecting preferences of Sterling and Francine Clark; pictures suffused with a light and beauty unique to the French Impressionists: sunny landscapes, portraits of lovely young women, charming genre scenes, and colorful still lifes.

Regarding these remarkable paintings, Norton Museum Director, Christina Orr-Cahall, commented “Many of these outstanding works of art have never before left the Clark; they do so on this occasion to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the magnificent bequest to the museum which bears their name.  This is an unprecedented opportunity for the community to view the finest examples of Impressionism as an ensemble, in the intimate setting of our museum.”

Renoir was the couple’s preferred Impressionist, as evidenced in their acquisition of 39 of his paintings, five of which are included in this exhibition.  Of their Renoirs, one of the more spectacular, A Girl with a Fan of 1881, a portrait of the beautiful actress Jeanne Samary, who was one of Renoir’s favorite models in the late 1870s, is featured in this special exhibition.  Her allure and sensuality are rivaled by the extraordinary floral still life which dominates the space where Samary stands, and by the exoticism of the Japanese fan which she holds.

Other works in the exhibition include Degas’ Dancers in the Classroom, Monet’s Spring in Giverny, Morisot’s A Girl Arranging Her Hair, Pissarro’s The River Oise Near Pontoise, and Manet’s demure yet poignant depiction of Moss Roses in a Vase, with its single flower left out of the water to die—it was one of a number of quickly-painted still lifes that Manet created in the last months of his life.  His fluent handling of paint allowed him to capture both the ephemeral quality of the roses and the distorting effects of glass and water.

Collecting the Impressionists will allow museum visitors to not only view the masterpieces created by legends of this particular movement, but to also glimpse into the lives of the artists themselves and the trends of the times; a time when landscapes were only beginning to shift due to development, when ladies wore hats and gloves, and beauty could be found in the simplicity of flowers and the organicity of onions.  Within the exhibition, the innovative approach of the painters will be explored, as artists who rebelled against the norm and focused on depicting whatever subject matter they pleased in a style distinctive to the Impressionists. 

This exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art is made possible in part through the generosity of Harold and Anne Berkley Smith, the Sydelle and Arthur I. Meyer Endowment, the Gioconda and Joseph King Endowment, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

About the Clarks:
Over a four-decade period, Sterling and Francine Clark built an extraordinary collection of art that became the foundation of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. As collectors, the Clarks were independent and self-reliant, their love and knowledge making them distinguished collectors with an aesthetic vision that was ahead of their time.  While they collected mainly 19th-century French Impressionism, they also bought Italian Renaissance paintings, works by American artists such as Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent, as well as English silver, master prints and drawings, and European porcelain.  The collection now encompasses more than 8,000 works; its greatest strength, however, is French Impressionism.

The Norton Museum of Art is open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. (Closed Mondays from May through October and on major holidays.) General admission is $8 for adults, $3 for visitors ages 13-21, and free for Members and children under 13.  An additional charge may apply for special exhibitions.  For general information visit www.norton.org.