“Goya to Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection” exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London ✎

Earlier this year, I went to the Courtauld Gallery to see a special exhibition of the masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection (of Winterthur, near Zurich). 

It was a wonderful show - full of exciting paintings which had never been seen in England before.

Oskar Reinhart was born from a wealthy Winterthur family who ran a leading international trading company. More interested in art than business, he began collecting seriously in 1919. He eventually had to step back from the firm to devote himself fully to building his collection. This included impressionists and Renaissance works. He built a gallery which he then bequeathed to the Swiss Confederation, which opened to the public in 1970.

Rating: 4/5 ★★★★☆

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Still Life with Three Salmon Steaks by Francisco de Goya

Wow. Breathtaking. 

This painting was part of a group of twelve still lifes painted by Francisco de Goya.

Painted during the Peninsular War - within the Napoleonic Wars - against Napoleon’s France.  According to the gallery:

Still life must have seemed a neutral subject matter at a time of censorship and political upheaval. However, the raw realism of these salmon steaks, isolated from any context, their flesh rendered in blood red, suggests the brutality of war. 

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Man with Delusions of Military Rank by Théodore Géricault

A powerful and rueful painting.

This man is suffering from a mental illness.

Théodore Géricault was a painter of French Romanticism. This painting was created as part of a series of portraits (which were never exhibited during his lifetime) of patients in an asylum, around 1822.

It’s a touching and empathetic painting - his small cap, hospital tag, v. gaunt cheeks, and an anxious & distressed look.

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Laura Cumming, in her review “The week in art: Goya to Impressionism; Linder: Danger Came Smiling – review” (Guardian, Feb 2025), wrote an eloquent encomium about this painting which I enjoyed reading:

There are not many portraits you wait all your adult life to see, but so it is with A Man Suffering from Delusions of Military Rank, painted by Théodore Géricault some time after The Raft of the Medusa in 1819. This shattering image of a man with no name is in Britain for the first time, loaned by a small Swiss museum a dozen miles outside Zurich.

To see it with your own eyes is to have a sense of who this man might really be, whether the title seems right, and why Géricault painted him in the first place: all of them unresolved mysteries.

The man is gaunt and elderly and sunk in anxiety, or suspicion. He looks away from us towards some other world. He is dressed – or dressed up, perhaps by somebody else? – in white shirt, black gilet and cloth sash over one shoulder. Around his neck hangs what looks to modern eyes like a dog tag, numbered 121, and on his head is a tattered hat with red piping and tassel. Perhaps it is the hat of Napoleon’s military police, hence the delusions of rank. Or perhaps the tag gives the number of his hospital ward.

But all the historic interpretations of this painting – that this is a study of monomania, painted for a Parisian doctor specialising in madness – fall away when you stand before the actual portrait. Géricault has sat with this man in Paris, heard him breathe or even speak, watched his gaze slide away into the distance. Who knows where or for how long he has been confined. The portrait is so empathetic and dignified, but so loose in its excitable rapidity, that Géricault’s own state of mind becomes part of the picture’s content. It is anything but a diagnostic illustration.

One of a fabled series of 10 “insane” portraits, scattered after Géricault’s premature death at 32, it disappeared for years, eventually bought by the Swiss art collector Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965) in the 1920s. It has been hanging in his pristine white villa in Winterthur ever since. The private collection of this Hanseatic merchant became a public museum in the 1950s, and now a tranche of its greatest masterpieces has arrived in the once-private collection of his merchant contemporary Samuel Courtauld in London. Goya to Impressionism is a jewel of an exhibition.

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The Wave by Gustave Courbet

A powerful seascape by the French Realist painter Gustave Courbet.

I’m always so delighted to see an artist paint the foamy white bubbles on the crash bursting of a wave, or at its collapsing peaks.

They’re a force of nature which the artist seizes and then pours onto his canvas for our delectation. See also: The Wave by Gauguin (right). 

This painting was - for its time - quite radical. Important for his stylistic (thick and expressive) brushwork - textured surface created by thickly applied paint via a palette knife. This would be influential.

Fellow blogger Debra (“She who seeks”) recently posted about Hokusai. This painting also traces its inspiration to those magnificent Japanese woodblock prints of the 19th century. 

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The Hammock (Le Rêve) by Gustave Courbet

A feeling of carefree escapism?

Being one with nature. This was early among Courbet’s ouvre.

According to wikipedia, it was “submitted to the Salon of 1845 at the Louvre in Paris, but rejected by the authorities.”

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Marguerite de Conflans Wearing Hood by Édouard Manet

Just wonderful.

Manet’s loose impressionistic brushwork crates a canvass “texture” to her delicate garments and accentuates her thoughtful and engaging gaze. The dark background really illuminates her presence alongside those diaphanous fabrics. 

It’s a beautiful portrait.

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Self-portrait by Paul Cezanne

I’ve never seen Paul Cezanne as a younger man. He painted this when he was only 27. Claude Monet bought it.

Aged 41.

He seems measured, deliberate & composed - and yet perhaps a little anxiety in his hand raised to his cheek? 

It’s also a bit of a dark painting and the overall effect is a bit inscrutable?

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Don Quixote and Sancho Panza by Honoré Daumier

From Miguel de Cervantes.

Bold colours, loose brushstrokes, and almost abstractions.

It’s a funny painting - I’ll have to think about it more.

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The Little Reader (La Petite Liseuse) by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Excellent - it’s that feeling of quiet inner peace.

Camille Corot was the teacher of Berthe Morisot. I think this is an interesting connection. 

Here he paints a woman entranced by a novel.

The posture, the face, and the environment all suggest a sense of serenity. 

Moreover, she feels so contemporary. Unlike the Rococo, she isn’t dancing, or posing alluringly, or doing anything at all. In fact, she doesn’t seem to care or notice the viewer - which perhaps invites the viewer to contemplate their relationship with the female object?

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Confidences by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Again, we see Renoir’s masterful use of light which adds to fleeting sense of the impressionist interaction. 

And, for me, once again ... a certain want in the visage. 

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Portrait of Victor Chocquet by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Lovely painting.

It’s nice to see Renoir paint a man. Victor Chocquet was a French art collector (wiki).

There is something irresistible about Chocquet’s gaze, and a certain charm & delicacy to his personality.

I like the open shirt, the feeling of an easiness about him and perhaps he’s a little bit of a thinker.

The light flowery background is a nice touch.

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The Milliner by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Beautiful brushstrokes forming her blouse. A lovely painting.

A working lady engrossed, confident, careful, against a light-greeny floral backdrop of swirling petals. 

I love those small & loose wisps of hair at the nape of her neck.

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Barges on the Canal Saint-Martin by Alfred Sisley

Great.

Sisley is an underrated impressionist.

Once again, fabulous waves rippling the water capturing the overcast atmosphere of the surface of the water which contrasts with the graded wooden finish of the barges.

And the sky’s calmful clouds are a beautiful contrast to the energy of the water.

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The Break-up of the Ice (La Débâcle) by Claude Monet

Another wow.

Monet’s mind-blowing watery effect.

The unripplied surface, a soft palette of colours across every surface, and those white brushstrokes of ice on the surface.

I feel I need to put on a jumper looking at this !

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Blue Roofs of Rouen by Paul Gauguin

Another wow.

The palette saturation is wonderful - azurean sky, then green hills, blue roofs, and red-browny fields.

This painting doesn’t like like a Gauguin yet. 

And yet, even so, his use of negative space in the foreground adds, I think, an allegorical tone to the work. Once again, Gauguin uses humans in a large & overbearing field which, to me, evokes a feeling of gloom, pity and/or despondency. For example, see Harvest: Le Pouldu by Paul Gauguin:

Harvest: Le Pouldu by Gauguin.

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Château Noir by Paul Cezanne

Cezanne is a difficult painter.

He does something beautiful - but why? 

Is it the limited form, the limited colours, the limited use of perspective, the melding of objects near and far ?

Not sure, but it does work. And brilliantly - sometimes he’s paintings are absolutely engrossing.

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Still Life with a Curtain, Jug and Fruit by Paul Cezanne

Another one of Cezanne’s enduring themes.

It’s obvious why he’s described as the father of modernism. It’s his intellectual challenging of art in producing something that doesn’t cohere - but has an immersive stunning effect.

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The Sickward of the Hospital at Arles by Vincent van Gogh

This is new to me.

And I had already seen so much of Van Gogh recently.

Poor Van Gogh. This is a window into his world - having spent weeks recovering from a mental breakdown. 

People huddled by the heater, a heavy atmosphere, solemn and lonely.

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The Clowness Cha-U-Kao by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Toulouse-Lautrec doesn’t do much for me, I don’t think.

Cha-U-Kao was a popular entertainer of 1890s’ Paris and a recurring subject of his.

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At the Café by Édouard Manet

Exhilarating to see this.

Manet’s brushwork is fascinating - the richness, the loose strokes etc... I always love poring over the details of his paintings.

And his subject is focused on the everyday and it’s fascinating. A recurring theme is Parisian bars - e.g. A Bar at the Folies-Bergère: 

I had already seen the twin to this painting at the National Gallery. It was a delight to see the other half at the Courtauld before it went to the National Gallery.

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Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto by Pablo Picasso

Hmm ... not sure how I feel about a painting.

This was recently in the news, according to artnet:

Beneath the melancholy hues of Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto by Pablo Picasso, conservators have uncovered a long-hidden secret—an earlier painting of a mysterious woman, concealed for over a century ... Painted in 1901, when Picasso was only 19, this artwork marks one of the earliest pieces from his renowned Blue Period—a phase that lasted until roughly 1904 and was characterized by a monochromatic palette dominated by cool cerulean tones. It depicts Picasso’s friend and fellow Spanish artist Mateau Fernández de Soto.

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Le Pilon du Roi (The King’s Peak) by Paul Cezanne

Wow .... I give up now.

Cezanne has won me over.

I could just walk into this painting.

Édouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir at the Courtauld ✎

This post is a few impressionist paintings from my recent visit to the Courtauld.

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A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Manet - 1882

This was Manet’s last masterpiece.

Manet was never fully appreciated by the public. He submitted this to the Paris Salon of 1882 to negative reception. Critics just didn’t get it, they found it unsettling. He became disillusioned and ill. In April 1883, he died two weeks, after a leg amputated below the knee, due to syphilitic infection. Monet and Zola would help carry his coffin. 

And what a great painting - a complex composition involving a mirror (and, therefore, undoubtedly postulating something about the Parisian 19th century “reality”), and executed quite beautifully. Alluring.

What is fascinating is the expression on the barmaid’s face as she leans onto the bar itself.

Is she trying to recall something, or just feeling a bit tired?

Her energy certainly feels discordant with the overall tone and energy of the surrounding.

One of my favourite little bits of details is the feet of the trapeze artist at the top left.

Such radiant and sumptuous tangerines. They glisten in their bowel.

And the champagne bottles! Manet signs his name on the cover.

According to the gallery:

In this work, Manet created a complex and absorbing composition that is considered one of the iconic paintings of modern life.

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Study for “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” (Luncheon on the Grass) by Manet - 1863

This was a preparatory work for the masterpiece at the Musée d’Orsay.

It’s very interesting and makes you think.

This painting’s subject was considered shocking and scandalous in its depiction of the “everyday” and unidealised with the inversion of Renaissance traditions of the female figure.

As above, Manet draws inspiration from the contemporary and everyday ordinary people — in opposition to the academy.

 

 A nude woman casually lunching with two fully dressed men.

They don’t even seem to notice her; and she confronts the viewer with her direct gaze.

I think the lady in the background is a nod to Titian’s “Reclining Venus”.

Turban is part Medieval European Fashion. 

The chaperon/turban (along with the cape) a nod to Renaissance clothing - Jan van Eyck?

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Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil by Manet - 1874

So vivid and beautiful.

Apparently, Manet painted this while staying with Claude Monet over a summer break. Claude Monet’s wife and son are posing along the embankment.

Swift brushstrokes creating amazing ripples on the water surface.

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Spring at Chatou by Renoir - 1873

Archetypal impressionism.

Just beautiful and idyllic.

The impressionist use of colour and light can convey a summery feeling. The loose brushwork gives the sense of a breeze swaying tall grass.

Amazing.

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Outskirts of Pont-Aven by Renoir - 1888

Really drawn to this. It’s striking & quite beautiful.

It’s a bit of a departure from his earlier impressionism.

Vigorous and compelling use of colour also adds to the sense of a summery breeze rifling through the grass.

The contours of the landscape and house delineated through the masterful use of colours.

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Woman Tying her Shoe by Renoir - 1918

Like it a lot.

One of Renoir’s last paintings before his death in 1919.

Sometimes the most beautiful thing in life can be simple things — such as a lovely lady tying her shoes. I think Renoir has the gift of celebrating the simple beauties of life which we all have a habit of overlooking (e.g. a relaxing afternoon, the joys of warm and soft hues). The simple joys of life should be celebrated. 

One of his saying which I quite liked:

“There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.”

It’s clear his disconnect with Impressionism of the 1880s (as seen in “Pont-Aven” above) has becoming enduring. 

The use of such warm, soft and opulent colours alongside broad brushstrokes make for such a lovely painting.

Impressionism at the National Gallery ✎

Note: This is a write-up of my visit last year (2022) to the National Gallery. This blog focuses on the Impressionism rooms. The rest will be under the 2022 visits under the National Gallery heading.

Edouard Manet’s radical style at Parisian exhibitions had a profound effect on many artists - Including Monet, Renoir, Morisot, Sisley etc. who focused on the day-to-day aspect of contemporary life. They would in plein air experiment with colours and flickering brushstrokes to capture the spontaneous & fleeting effects of light.

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Fox Hill, Upper Norwood by Camille Pissarro (1870)

Love it.

Looks so messy and “unfinished” ... and yet meticulous and serene in the wintery snowy thaw. I love that we can feel the brushstrokes of the artists; those irregularities of the brush, the ridges and general disorderly nature. 

This is Lower Norwood of south London. Pissarros escaped warfare and stayed in London.

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The Avenue, Sydenham by Camille Pissarro (1871)

Love it also.

An early spring view of London. The church of St Bartholomew in the background.

A charming impression of an everyday life scene. This was my computer screensaver.

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View from Louveciennes by Camille Pissarro (1869)

Beautiful painting, and reminds me of my granny.

A village west of Paris where Pissarro lived. Very charming and serene. Here we see quiet stroll by an everyday lady down a village pathway. 

Once again I love how - once we get up-close - we can see how the artists daubs the canvass. Those hasty and almost careless & crude strokes creating something - at a distance - is quite exquisite. 

Trace of an overcoat in her arm for weather changes

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Landscape with Poplars by Paul Cezanne (1885)

Beautiful.

Almost every single brushstroke seems decisive, consequential and deliberate. Nothing whimsical or fortuitous. It’s clear he must have thought about his paintings a lot - both in principle and in practice before a scene. Some very long deliberations. The branches of the trees (typically swaying, dangling, shedding leaves, etc.) are painted as though they were solid and physical and harmonious with the durable earth. Everything seems to obey the same rules of lighting - from the the house, hilltop, trees to the front garden.

Also, I can see the basic core of cubism in the delicately shifting perspectives: the illusion of painting and our conception of a single stationery eyesight. 

The above centre feels like a series of concrete decisions. The net effect is a wonderful harmony and balance between the ephemeral and the durable; a beautiful verisimilitude.

Amazing.

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The Sea at L’Estaque by Paul Cezanne (1876)

As per the National Gallery, Cezanne sent this picture to the 3rd Impressionist exhibition in 1877. Then, he was working closely with Pissarro. 

This painting is the South of France. The Mediterranean light made to really limit but heighten the colours which has the effect of giving the landscape differing fullness and volume.

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The Thames below Westminster by Claude Monet (1871)

Wow! Just wow.

The overall effect is bewitching and very charm.

In this painting, Monet was captivated by the London fog. The interaction of particulates with light tends to create beautiful refractive iridescent mists which imposes a sheen on life.

The misty air is divided by Westminster Bridge which gives the water a fluctuating texture and colour. I do love the way the leaves have been painted on the tree on the side. Parliament looks beautiful and imposing, an almost mythical artificiality. The way Monet reflects the shimmering planks on the dockage is marvellous.

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The Watering Place at Marly-le-Roi by Alfred Sisley (1875)

The brushstrokes are faint and delicate. This depicts a Chateau during the winter. 

I do love the trees. If you look at them, you can almost feel their texture against the atmosphere and the sky’s golden tinge. I love the faint specks of darkness walking up the snowy white pathway.

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View of the Thames: Charing Cross Bridge by Alfred Sisley (1874)

Sisley visited London in the summer of 1874.

Beautiful skyline of London city with St Pauls. I love how the smoke from the steamers (?) is given a thick harshness on the canvass. The waves are lovely. 

St Paul’s cathedral. Amazing white clouds and puffs.

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The Gare St-Lazare by Claude Monet (1877)

What an incredible atmosphere!

Two train engines billowing steam as passengers disembark. I love the steam blueish-white. The trains have such a strong richness in their black hue, commanding our attention. And then, there is the screeching breaking noise, the smell of the engines, the constant motion and movement of the people, the pace of life is captured so well. And Monet painted this at the train station on the spot. 

Amazing. I could look at this for ages.

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Flood Waters by Claude Monet (1896)

River Epte - tributary of Seine - flooded in the autumn of 1896 after heavy rains.

This is a pretty scene. Reminds me a little of Turner. 

The way the sky and the water melds and coalesces. I like the reflections in the water which attest to the calm. The barren trees give the painting a solemn sad tone. The brushstrokes of the earthy grey across the water - slightly obscuring the reflection - makes the water gleam faintly.

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Woman with a Cat by Édouard Manet (1880)

That’s Manet’s wife Suzanne relaxing on a sofa.

The cat is lustrously beautiful. Though, according to the gallery, it is probably unfinished. That might explain his wife’s missing arm? Perhaps she was having an irritable day? Looks like she has a headache!! Haha.

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At the Theatre (La Première Sortie) by Renoir (1876)

We’re in a box at the theatre with two women. The effect here is amazing. 

The girl closest to us seems hesitant but excited. I think it’s her eyes. That unsettled expression reminds me of people being shocked or over-stimulated. Trying to focus on other things - like the girl’s mother - doesn’t seem to help us. Nor do the surroundings. We get a snapshot of a moment, and the flowers in her hand are just beautiful. 

Simple blots of colour to make the flowers.

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The Execution of Maximilian by Édouard Manet (1867)

Enormous canvass! 

This painting is the execution of Maximilian, the Emperor of Mexico. He was an puppet emperor installed by Napoleon III but executed by Mexican Republicans in 1867. Only Maximilian’s hand is visible, held by one of his generals (also killed). The sergeant checking his rifle for the coup-de-grace. It was censored for political reasons, and cut up after Manet’s death. Degas later reassembled the fragments.

Shame it was lost, must have been moving. Reminds me of Goya. It feels as the viewer is made complicit in the cruelty.

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Wineglasses by John Singer Sargent (1875)

It seems Sargent painted this sun-dappled veranda at Saint-Enegat in Bettany.

The light brushwork makes the way the light interacts with the environment and the colourful shadows absorbing. The shadows on the earthy environs and penumbra on the floor really absorb you into the scene. I love how the seductive brushwork also includes a gleam of light hitting the underside of the brimming wine glasses. 

Just the spot to sit ... bask in the sunshine with wine in hand. So evocative.

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Summer’s Day by Berthe Morisot (1879)

Alluring. It’s as if she’s looking at us.

Morisot creates an intimate moment and captures the charm of a summer’s day. The shimmering reflective light on the lake. Charming ducks. The central lady has been painted in a handsome bonnet with her little umbrella. I love the very subtle facial features. The brushstrokes forming her attire are a curious hodgepodge of different colours and textures. Some thick brushstrokes against verdant bluish-green saturating the broader landscape.

It's quite an enchanting moment.

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Girl on a Divan by Berthe Morisot (1885)

I like it. 

Morisot once again paints with subtle facial features. I love the rusty rich brunette hair. Few distinct thick brushstrokes but vivid colours does the trick. Once again, I really enjoy the visible, expressive brushstrokes on the canvass, and the lack of blending gives her gaze an intensity. Lovely vivid squiggly lines on the dress are cute and artsy.

Different eyes, slight tint of green under her nose, gorgeous hair.

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La Pointe de la Hève by Claude Monet (1864)

Interesting way Monet captures the gloomy overcast late afternoon sky. 

The way the waves lap at the shoreline is so skilful, the white bursting of sea bubbles and the darker patches of ground. The overhanging rock face has a very interesting mix of earthy colours. I also love the shadow around the boat.

White brushstrokes as crashing waves.

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The Beach at Trouville by Claude Monet (1870)

Interesting. I think I like it.

I especially like the swirling windy sky, I like her umbrella, and that silly chair at a beach. I think I spotted grains of sand at the bottom of the canvass (on the black lady’s dress).

I like Monet’s wife’s hat, and the brushstrokes

on her dress. Interesting shadowed face though.

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Beach Scene by Gustave Courbet (1874)

What a phenomenal cloud formation and atmosphere. It takes up everything and almost like a creature. Alien-like, as if they will land on Earth itself.

Not sure what the middle object is.

Interesting & v. imposing vista.

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Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando by Edgar Degas (1879)

Wow!

Edgar Degas painted this famous acrobat Miss La La at Paris’s Cirque Fernando. She was hoisted to the circus’s 70 ft ceiling by a rope between her teeth. According to the National Gallery, it was first exhibited at the 4th Impressionism exhibition.

What is amazing is how graceful he painted her, and how delicate the brushstrokes were. The detailed work is impressive, lovely colour harmonies and how he makes a dynamic subject seem alive.

I don’t find these sort of circus tricks enjoyable to watch. They freak me out, but I like the craftsmanship.

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Peasant Girls bathing in the Sea at Dusk by Edgar Degas (1875)

Interesting. 

Degas paints naked peasant girls holding hands as they enter the foaming sea for a sunset swim.

The works seems unfinished with an overall dun effect. But, there is a naked woman to the side, fixing up her hair, with more normal skin tones. The sea seems murky with almost no detail. The girl facing the land is probably avoiding a crashing wave. 

Interesting and very different from the Miss La La above. Not sure yet what to think.

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Young Spartans Exercising by Edgar Degas (1860)

An interesting coming-of-age story from Greek history.

A Spartan scene. Boys were raised from 7 years with huge emphasis on fighting and the art of warfare.

Degas depicts the young girls encouraging the young Spartan boy to hone their fighting skills. It’s kind of sweet. I think Degas revised the painting, as there are faint signs of legs being painted over. The grass brushstrokes are almost translucent.