Catch it while you can…
Just a few more weeks to see Impressionist Interiors exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland.
Closes 10 August 2008.

Press Release 24 July 2008

Supported by KPMG

There are just over 2 weeks to go to visit the Impressionist Interiors exhibition in the Millennium Wing of the National Gallery featuring 46 rarely seen paintings by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Morisot, Degas, Cassatt, Gauguin, Pissarro and Vuillard. Tickets are available direct from the Gallery or by telephone (01) 663 3513 or online www.ticketmaster.ie.

"The response from visitors to the exhibition has been really wonderful since it opened last May, says Raymond Keaveney, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland. Members of both the public and the media who have visited the show from far and wide have voiced their delight on seeing the very best examples of Impressionist Interior paintings and drawings from among prestigious collections around the world. These paintings are not likely to be seen together again in this novel context, so we are greatly indebted to those private lenders and public institutions who have generously allowed their works to be included in this exhibition."

The exhibition looks at how Impressionists and artists within their circle engaged with interior spaces both public and private, domestic and social. It features some of the most renowned paintings and pastels by Edgar Degas, among them; 'Portraits in a Cotton Office' (Museum of Fine Arts, Pau), 'The Convalescent' (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles); 'After the Bath' (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and 'Café Concert at Les Ambassadeurs' (Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon). There are also wonderful examples by Paul Gauguin who often brought the outside world into his symbolist interiors by incorporating details such as floral arrangements or wallpapers decorated with birds and plants as in 'The Painter's Home, rue Carcel' (National Museum, Oslo), 'Nude Study/ Woman Sewing' (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen), and 'The Little Dreamer' (Odrupgaard, Copenhagen).

Édouard Manet, like Edgar Degas, was the quintessential painter of the modern interior. His oil studies of 'A Bar at the Folies-Beregère' (study for the famous oil painting at the Courtauld in London) and 'The Ball at the Opéra' (Private Collection), are included in this exhibition, as well as 'Interior at Arcachon' (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts).

The exhibition includes a number of works by some of the best-known women artists associated with Impressionism; Berthe Morisot, 'The Artist's Sister at a Window', (National Gallery of Art, Washington); 'Eugène Manet on the Isle of Wight' (Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris) and Mary Cassatt, 'Lydia at a Tapestry Frame' (Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan). Also featured are Camille Pissarro, 'Minette' (Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art); Claude Monet, 'Interior, after Dinner' (National Gallery of Art, Washington) as well works by Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard.

An intriguing aspect of the show are the works by a small number of lesser-known artists who engaged with interior views, among them; Zacharie Astruc, Henri Gervex, and Federico Zandomeneghi.

Impressionist Interiors has been made possible through the support of KPMG.

Exhibition catalogues and postcards are on sale from the Exhibition Desk and The Gallery Shop.

Tickets to the exhibition may be purchased in advance by calling in to the Millennium Wing, by telephone (01) 663 3513 (no booking fee applies) or online through Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.ie. Concession prices apply all day Thursday.

Some visitor comments to date:

Exhibition is fantastic!

Excellent, informative and exciting

I've had an excellent day here, …lovely Impressionist show.

Extremely well notated.

It broadened my knowledge with regard to artists I knew little of before.

I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition.

The Impressionist exhibit is astounding, beautiful and informative.

Marvellous exhibition…Depiction of daily life excellent.

An extremely interesting exhibition…Stunning, loved the commentary…

Calming and most enjoyable.

Very good, you should send the same exhibition to Paris.

Excellent exciting exhibition. ..We were just entranced by it. I loved the audiotape.

Press quotes:

RTÉ R1/ The Arts Show
Brian Faye, artist, lecturer DIT: "They (National Gallery of Ireland) really have pulled out all the stops on this one… I have to say they really should be applauded for doing this, it's a high-quality show, beautifully presented, extremely well hung and very clearly broken down so outside each of the rooms you have a very clear description of what to expect … I think the catalogue is also terribly good value because you get forty-six of all the paintings in full colour and it's beautifully put together."

The Irish Times
Aidan Dunne: "Impressionism is always a winner with the public. But the National Gallery's new exhibition, dispensing with archetypal scenes of picnics, parks and beaches, shows that there are still original ways of presenting the work."

Irish Independent
Bruce Arnold: "There are some fascinating discoveries and some interesting sketches related to major Impressionist paintings as well as good examples of work by Degas, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt. … Another fascinating discovery, for me, is Federico Zandomeneghi, who was born in Venice, lived and worked in Florence and arrived in Paris in time for the first of the eight Impressionist exhibitions in the city … it is worth commending the Degas paintings and pastels in the show. …."

Irish Examiner
Marc O'Sullivan: "The exhibition is remarkable for the attention it casts on a body of work for which the Impressionists are not always celebrated."

The Sunday Times, Culture
Gerry McCarthy: "The National Gallery's Impressionist Interiors, including Degas and Manet, give an overfamiliar style a surprising makeover …By seeing that there was more to this movement than lily ponds and cornfields, we get a renewed jolt of the energy that originally permeated the work."

Sunday Tribune
Eimear McKeith: "…a stunning collection of 46 sensitively-hung works by Manet, Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Renoir, Morisot, Bonnard, Vuillard and others. … This exhibition, by focusing on a complex, fascinating theme within Impressionism and exploring it in depth, is sure to be a revelation to viewers."

The Sunday Business Post
Helen Boylan: "Seen as 'outrageously modern' at the time, today the Impressionists are seen as a complex mix of modernity and traditionalism in painting. Their search for a realistic interpretation of natural light is beautifully displayed in Impressionist Interiors, a National Gallery of Ireland exhibition that brings together over 45 works by the great masters of the Impressionist movement."

Evening Herald, HQ
Donna Ahern: "The beauty of this significant exhibition of paintings is that it features pieces that will appeal to all manner of visitors, far beyond the confines of art enthusiasts. Paintings such as Degas' Le Café Concert and Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Beregère are instantly recognizable and are sure to appeal to a mass audience."

RTÉ TV 1/ The View
Roy Foster, historian: "…there are ravishing things in this exhibition and the Degas of the Cotton Office in New Orleans is one of the most wonderful paintings and to see it is terrific."

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Images from the exhibition Impressionist Interiors are available from the Gallery Press Office, email press@ngi.ie

Exhibitions Ongoing:
Impressionist Interiors
Until 10 August

Revelation
Until 28 September

Jack B. Yeats: Highlights from the Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Sligo
Until 30 November

Forthcoming:
Northern Stars and Southern Lights: The Golden Age of Finnish Art 1870-1920
8 November 2008 - 1 February 2009
In collaboration with the Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki

Hugh Douglas Hamilton (1740-1808): A Life in Pictures
22 November 2008 - 15 February 2009

Vermeer, Fabritius and De Hooch: Three Masterpieces from Delft
14 February - 24 May 2009

Thomas Roberts (1748-1778)
13 March - 14 June 2009

Pay Attention! Children's Education in the Dutch Golden Age
21 March - 28 June 2009

Contact:
Valerie Keogh/ Emma Pearson
Press & Communications Office
National Gallery of Ireland
Telephone (01) 661 5133
Email press@ngi.ie