DENVER, CO.- The Denver Art Museum (DAM) will present a major exhibition entitled Inspiring Impressionism, on view in Denver from February 23, 2008 through May 25, 2008, featuring works by Impressionist painters Monet, Degas and Renoir as well as earlier artists including Raphael, El Greco, Rubens, Claude, van Rysdael, Velazquez and Watteau, among others. This significant presentation explores the deep relationship between the Impressionists and the works of their predecessors – a theme rarely examined in previous exhibitions. The show will have three venues and will first be on view at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta from October 13, 2007 through January 13, 2008, and at the Seattle Art Museum from June 19, 2008 through September 21, 2008. The national tour of Inspiring Impressionism is made possible by Northern Trust.

Inspiring Impressionism features more than 90 works of art, including approximately 60 by Impressionist painters. This exhibition, the first of its kind, illustrates how Impressionists drew inspiration from earlier artists, while popular opinion holds that the Impressionism movement was founded on an implicit rejection of the past. Organized over the past five years, the show includes works from nearly 70 museums and private collections around the world, such as the National Gallery in London and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

“This is the first exhibition to focus specifically on the important relationship between the Impressionists and old masters. The story of this relationship, while accepted by many art historians, has never been explored as an exhibition on such a broad scale,” said DAM Curator and Deputy Director of Collections Timothy J. Standring. “It is thrilling for the Denver Art Museum to showcase these significant works and provide our own visitors, as well as those in Atlanta and Seattle, with a new way to think about the history of art.”

Traditional landscapes, still lifes, and portraits by old masters from the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, such as Raphael (1483–1520), Titian (1485–1576), and Claude Lorrain (1600–1682) set the stage for Inspiring Impressionism. Pairing these works with nineteenth-century Impressionist paintings creates a unique visual dialogue between the genres. Highlights of such groupings include Mary Cassatt’s (1844–1926) Mrs. Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa of 1876 and Jean Honoré Fragonard’s (1732–1806) A Young Girl Reading of 1776, both of which use similar artistic technique, composition, and subject matter, exemplifying Inspiring Impressionism’s theme.

Other highlights include Paul Cézanne’s (1839–1906) large-scale Still Life with Statuette of 1894, a thoughtful arrangement of motifs surrounding the composition’s focal point–a reproduction of an early Putto plaster sculpture. The original inspiration of the work— the Putto sculpture itself—will be on view along with drawings by the artist that feature the same motif. In addition, the exhibition presents several Degas paintings, such as La Calvaire (1861) and Portrait of a Woman (1858–9) juxtaposed with works by old masters to give meaning to Degas’ statement that "no art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the old masters."

Co-curated by Standring and Ann Dumas, a London-based independent scholar, Inspiring Impressionism is the first Impressionist-focused exhibition to come to the DAM in nearly a decade. The exhibition will feature an illustrated catalogue that provides a detailed evaluation of the relationship between Impressionism and the art of the past. The exhibition checklist varies slightly at each of the three venues. Inspiring Impressionism will be shown in the Museum’s new Frederic C. Hamilton Building. The recent expansion provides much needed space for the Museum to host major exhibitions from around the world and to showcase significant special exhibitions DAM has organized. Inspiring Impressionism follows the Denver Art Museum’s 2007 exhibitions Artisans and Kings: Selected Treasures from the Louvre, on view from October 6, 2007– January 6, 2008, and Color as Field, on view November 2, 2007–January 27, 2008.