DAYTON, OH.- The Dayton Art Institute’s Centennial Focus Exhibition, Monet and Impressionism, is on view through August 25. The DAI is proud to present this exhibition, featuring a special Monet on loan from the Denver Art Museum.

Monet and Impressionism provides a spotlight of 13 paintings highlighting Impressionism in France, including works by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Frederick Frieseke and Henri Matisse. This exhibition explores Claude Monet’s remarkable influence on art.

The centerpiece of the Focus Exhibition are three works by Monet: the DAI’s own Waterlilies (1903), the 1903 oil painting Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect (effect de soleil), on loan from the Denver Art Museum, and the pastel Sainte-Adresse, View Across the Estuary (about 1865–1870), on loan from a private collection. Monet and Impressionism also offers a rare opportunity to see the DAI’s delicate Degas pastel, After the Bath.

“We are thrilled to be able to present this absolute gem of an exhibition, which is based around Monet and the lasting achievements of the Impressionists. It is a great addition to our year-long centennial celebration that we feel the community will really enjoy,” said Jerry N. Smith, DAI’s Chief Curator.

It may be hard to imagine today, but Claude Monet (1840–1926) was once considered a radical. His works were not tied to historical subjects and lacked moralizing themes, which challenged artistic conventions and rejected the traditions of French art. Monet painted outdoors—uncommon in the 1860s—and attempted to show the ever-changing effects of light and atmosphere found in nature. Compared to the highly detailed, traditional academic art, Monet’s works appeared haphazard and unfinished.

In 1874, Monet helped organize an exhibition of independent artists as a stand against the French Academy’s established, government-sponsored annual Salons. In an attack against the independents’ exhibition, an art critic first used the term “Impressionist.” It was a negative response to Monet’s painting titled Impression-Sunrise (1872). The artists, however, liked the term, as it spoke to their desire to show an instantaneous moment, an impression of a scene in nature. Others who shared Monet’s interest in seeking new means of visual expression included Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, and Edgar Degas, among others.

Despite initial negative responses, Monet and his colleagues soon found acceptance with collectors. In America, several artists responded favorably to the bright colors and loose brushwork techniques associated with Impressionism. Some, like Carl Frederick Frieseke, traveled to France to seek out the modern artists, and an art colony grew around Monet’s gardens in Giverny, outside of Paris.

The Impressionists never wrote a manifesto and artists associated with the movement worked in distinct and individual styles. Their rebellious expressions of artistic freedom, however, have inspired generations of artists and continue to captivate us today.

Monet and Impressionism is FREE for members and included with the museum’s suggested general admission for non-members. The exhibition is organized by the Dayton Art Institute, and the DAI is its only venue.