Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Champ de bananiers, 1881

Starting in 1881 the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel regularly bought paintings from Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The painter then undertook all the trips he had previously been unable to afford and which would complete his artistic training.

His first trip took him to Algeria, in the footsteps of Delacroix whom he admired. Renoir's visual experience there was as intense as it had been for the older artist.

Seduced by the colours and the "incredible wealth" of nature here, he produced several pure landscapes, quite rare in his oeuvre. This field of banana trees is in the Essai garden in Hamma, created in 1832 in Algiers.

Francis Sydney Muschamp | Pittore di genere

Francis Sydney Muschamp was an British painter, the son of the landscape painter, Francis Muschamp (active 1865-1881).

The family moved to London in 1865, the year that Muschamp Sr. began to exhibit at the Royal Society of British Artists.

The younger Muschamp began to exhibit at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1870 and continued to exhibit his paintings at the major halls until 1903.

Anna Airy | War artist

Anna Airy (6 June 1882 - 23 October 1964) was an British oil painter, pastel artist and etcher. She was one of the first women officially commissioned as a war artist and was recognised as one of the leading women artists of her generation.

Early life

Airy was born in Greenwich, London, the daughter of an engineer, Wilfrid Airy, and Anna née Listing, and the granddaughter of the Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy.

Airy trained at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1899-1903, where she studied alongside William Orpen and Augustus John, and under Fred Brown, Henry Tonks and Philip Wilson Steer.

Maximilian Lenz | Pittore della Secessione Viennese

Maximilian Lenz (Vienna, 1860-1948) è stato un pittore, grafico e scultore Austriaco. Fu membro fondatore della Secessione di Vienna; durante il periodo più importante della sua carriera fu simbolista, ma in seguito il suo lavoro divenne sempre più naturalistico.

Ha lavorato in una varietà di media, inclusi oli, acquerelli, litografia e rilievi in metallo.

Thomas Dewing | Lady in Yellow, 1888

Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) created a striking contrast between the precisely modeled face and arms, and the very free, feathery brushstrokes of the dress.

The painting was exhibited in 1888 at the Boston Art Club, where it was purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner with the help of Dennis Miller Bunker.

The painting was then exhibited to considerable acclaim at the National Academy of Design and at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889.

Stanford White designed the frame, which is original to the painting. Mrs. Gardner hung the painting in the Yellow Room, a setting perfectly attuned to the hue of the woman’s dress. | Source: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Thomas Wilmer Dewing | Lady in Yellow, 1888 | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Alfred Sisley at the Museum Barberini

Located in Potsdam’s historic center (Germany), the Museum Barberini is an art museum that was initiated by Hasso Plattner, the founder of the German software company SAP and a patron of the arts.

Since its opening in 2017, the Barberini has established itself as one of the most popular museums in Germany with international exhibitions and an extraordinary collection of Impressionist paintings.

From Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Gerhard Richter to ancient sculpture, French Impressionism and Baroque painting, the Museum Barberini embraces all styles and eras, and aims to continually offer new perspectives on art.

Alfred Sisley | Near Moret-sur-Loing, 1881 | Museum Barberini

In 1882 Alfred Sisley moved to Moret-sur-Loing, a town to the south of Paris, where he explored the landscape that was crisscrossed by rivers and canals.

The wooden construction in the foreground likely belongs to one of the boatyards that dotted the Loing Canal, which was used for industrial purposes.

The detail of this construction adds a modern element to the timeless scenery.

Élisabeth Sonrel | Art Nouveau painter

Elisabeth Sonrel (1874-1953) was a French painter and illustrator in the Art Nouveau style.

Her works included allegorical subjects, mysticism, symbolism, portraits and landscapes.

She was the daughter of Nicolas Stéphane Sonrel, a painter from Tours, and received her early training from him.

For further study she went on to Paris as a student of Jules Lefebvre at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.