Peter Bell, 1969 | Impressionist painter

Peter Bell’s ethereal Impressionist style🎨 permeates his idyllic European coastal scenes. His brushwork and palette showcase the subtleties of light and atmosphere in gauzy skies, lush gardens, charming buildings and glistening waters.

Born in Washington, D.C., Bell was educated at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and the National Art School in his hometown. He was initially a department-store commercial artist and freelancer before devoting himself to full-time painting and teaching. Bell’s critically acclaimed work adorns numerous private collections and has received many awards🎨.

Van Gogh | Le pont de Trinquetaille, 1888

Vincent Van Gogh made some drawings and paintings of the Trinquetaille bridge:

"I have a view of the Rhone - the Iron Bridge of Trinquetaille, where the sky and the river are absinthe-colored, the quays of a lilac tone, the characters blackish , the iron bridge of an intense blue".

Odilon Redon | Butterflies, 1910

Before 1900 Odilon Redon🎨 made drawings almost exclusively in black and white; afterward he began to focus on paintings and pastels in sensuous color.

Many of his late works in color took nature’s small beauties, such as butterflies, seashells and flowers, as objects of contemplation and presented them with a fantastic intensity.

Redon was a Symbolist🎨; he believed that art could transcend the everyday and open onto a marvelous world of the mind.

William Bouguereau | Les oranges, 1865

The image of a mother and child is a symbol of universal relevance. It exists and is celebrated within every culture, throughout its respective history.

Through iconic works like Les Oranges, Bouguereau🎨 has made an enduring contribution to this fundamental canon of imagery and he continues to have a profound impact on how such images are produced and received to this day.

The present painting is among Bouguereau's greatest achievements. His virtuosity is apparent in every element of the painting, which was executed at the height of his genius.
His debt to the Renaissance masters🎨 is evident here and the religious overtones of this painting are subtly underlined by the inclusion of the oranges, recognized in symbolic terms as a substitute for the apple in the hand of the infant Christ.

Peter Philipp Rumpf (German painter, 1821-1896) | Young Woman in the Park

Peter Philipp Rumpf (born December 19, 1821 in Frankfurt, † January 16, 1896 ibid) was a German painter🎨 and etcher.

Rumpf was the son of the pastry chef Sebastian Rumpf and the Marianne Rumpf, b. Melzer.

He learned his pastry craft from his father and in 1836 began studying at the Städelsche Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt in the sculpture class of Johann Nepomuk Zwerger. From 1838 he studied painting with Jakob Becker, Carl Friedrich Wendelstadt, Heinrich von Rustige and Jakob Fürchtegott Dielmann.

Emilio Longoni | The Voice Of The Stream / La voce del ruscello, 1904

Artist: Emilio Longoni🎨 (Italian painter🎨, July 9, 1859 - November 29, 1932)
Date: 1904
Style: Divisionism
Current location: Galleria Bottegantica

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Woman with a fan. 1879

The actress Jeanne Samary may have posed for this painting in her cheerfully decorated dressing room at the Comédie-Française, a theater in Paris. Yet the image, as indicated by its title, was not intended as a portrait.

The informal subject freed Renoir to experiment with composition - the figure occupies a compressed space, a vibrant bouquet competing with her features.

She holds an uchiwa fan, reflecting a fascination with all things Japanese in late nineteenth-century France. | © The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Bay of Naples, Evening, 1881

Bay of Naples, Evening
Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, Limoges 1841–1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer)
Date: 1881
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 22 13/16 x 31 13/16 in. (57.9 x 80.8 cm)
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1933

Renoir's painting of Naples focuses on the bustle of daily life near the harbor.

The scene is full of local flavor - characteristic Neapolitan boats, donkeys loaded with supplies, a woman carrying a burden on her head.

In the distance, smoke issues from the mouth of the Mount Vesuvius, a volcano. Parallel strokes of paint structure the composition, with reds and oranges contrasting the purple and blue shadows and yellow and white buildings across the bay. | © The Clark Art Institute

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Onions, 1881

Artist: Auguste Renoir (French, Limoges 1841–1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer);

Date: 1881;

Medium: Oil on canvas;

Dimensions: 15 3/8 x 23 7/8 in. (39.1 x 60.6 cm) Frame: 25 x 35 1/4 x 2 7/8 in. (63.5 x 89.5 x 7.3 cm);

Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1922.

Renoir painted this casual arrangement of onions and garlic piled on crumpled cloth during a visit to Naples in 1881. Clear light and fluid brushstrokes define the onions’ round, solid forms and capture the shiny, papery quality of their skins. Sterling Clark often stated that this was his favorite of the many paintings by Renoir in his collection. | © The Clark Art Institute

Renoir dipinse questo arrangiamento casuale di cipolle e aglio ammucchiati su un panno accartocciato durante una visita a Napoli nel 1881. Una luce chiara ed una pennellata fluida definiscono le forme rotonde, solide delle cipolle e catturano la qualità lucida e cartacea della loro pelle.

Sterling Clark affermava spesso che questo era il suo preferito tra i numerosi dipinti di Renoir nella sua collezione. | © The Clark Art Institute

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Bouquet of Chrysanthemums, 1881

Renoir felt that he had greater freedom to experiment in still lifes than in figure paintings.

"When I paint flowers, I feel free to try out tones and values and worry less about destroying the canvas", he told the writer Georges Rivière.

"I would not do this with a figure painting since there I would care about destroying the work". | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art