BALTIMORE, MD.- The Walters Art Museum announced today the opening of From Gérôme to Monet: Stories from the 19th-Century Collection, a focused exhibition that explores the different, overlapping, and sometimes conflicting ideas that existed in the 19th century about how paintings should tell stories and connect with their audiences. Curated from the Walters collection, the exhibition places works by officially recognized artists trained at government-sponsored art schools side by side with paintings completed in the same years by the Impressionists, illustrating the two contrasting, yet coexisting, schools of thought. The installation comprises 20 paintings and one sculpture and will be on view in Hackerman House at 1 West Mount Vernon Place through May 31.

The first Impressionist group exhibition was held in Paris in 1874. At first, the broad, unblended brushstrokes used by the Impressionists shocked contemporary viewers, who were used to the polished and detailed work of academically trained painters. Now, 150 years later, the Impressionists’ subjective approach to painting is perhaps more admired than the empirical approach of establishment painters to whom they were compared. The exhibition includes Springtime (1872) by Claude Monet; Sappho and Alcaeus (1881) by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema; The Tulip Folly (1882) by Jean-Léon Gérôme, and more works that explore the variety of narrative and artistic approaches painters used in the 19th century.

“We know that visitors love our collection of 18th- and 19th-century painting and sculpture, and we are pleased to put these well-known artworks back on view for them to experience once again, this time with a new perspective,” said Jo Briggs, Jennie Walters Delano Curator of 18th- and 19th-Century Art. “Fans of these works will be excited to learn that this display is just a taste of a larger installation of works from this collection area currently being planned for Hackerman House in 2027.”

From Gérôme to Monet: Stories from the 19th-Century Collection marks the first time that a large number of paintings will be installed in Hackerman House, and the first time in over a decade that the museum’s collection of Impressionist paintings will be on view in one contiguous space.

The exhibition is curated by Jo Briggs, Jennie Walters Delano Curator of 18th- and 19th-Century Art.