Copyright 2000 by Edward Willett

Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin and Cézanne are spending the winter in Saskatchewan!

OK, so it's not the actual artists. That would be difficult to arrange, since they're all dead. But their paintings live on, and some of those paintings, from the National Gallery of Canada's collection, that will be wintering at the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

"Impressionist Masterworks from the National Gallery of Canada" is visiting just five venues across Canada. The MacKenzie is the only gallery on the prairies to host the show; the others are the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Windsor, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and Musée de Quebec.

The exhibit, which runs from November 18 to January 21, features 13 paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Louise-Eugène Boudin, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne.

The works include still-lifes, portraits, landscapes and genre scenes. Among the paintings are two of the National Gallery's earliest acquisitions, "Waterloo Bridge: the Sun in a Fog" by Monet, purchased in 1914, just 11 years after it was painted, and Pissarro's "The Stone Bridge in Rouen, Dull Weather," added just nine years later.

The term "Impressionist" comes from a painting by Monet, entitled "Impressions: Sunrise," which was exhibited as part of show call the Exhibition of the Independents in Paris in 1874. At the time the painting was criticized for its "unfinished appearance," and the term "impressionist" was coined by a critic, Louis Leroy, as a derisive term.

But the new style of painting--and the supposedly derisive named for it--took off, despite the critics. Seven more Impressionist exhibitions were held in Paris in ensuing years. (Although Pissarro's name is probably not as well-known to the general public as some of the others, he was the only artist who took part in all eight.)

"(The Impressionists ) were really significant because they changed the way that people viewed art," explains Jill Welke, communications officer for the gallery. "It was when photography first started, and therefore there became less need for capturing (in paintings) the way things were in reality. The Impressionists were the first to stray out of that and really redefine it."

One unusual aspect of the exhibition is that the MacKenzie is charging admission to it. (Tickets can be bought at any time and used any day you wish, and are good for the whole day.) "This exhibition has a lot of costs associated with it; it's one of the largest exhibition fees we've every paid," explains Jill. "We needed to be able to charge and exhibition just to cover some of the costs."

Not that the modest admission fee--$7 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under--pays those costs all by itself; the Gallery Shop will also be selling a lot of "Impressionist product" and the MacKenzie has also had help from "tons of sponsors, individual donors and volunteers," Jill says, not to mention the Canadian Heritage department, whose indemnification program has helped cover the enormous insurance cost.

Although, ironically, the Impressionists shocked traditionalists when their paintings first appeared, today their paintings are enormously popular. What was once avant-garde has become familiar. "If you say Monet or Van Gogh, most people have heard of them," Jill says. "Many people have come to recognize them and really love their paintings."

"It's a lot easier for someone to understand and appreciate something they have seen before and know about," she continues. (See last week's column.) "You spend a lifetime hearing about Monet and Van Gogh and all the famous painters, and then actually seeing one of their paintings...it's something I thought I would have to travel a great distance to see."

The Impressionist exhibition has other features besides the paintings. One is the "Life and Times room," set up in the MacKenzie's Salon. It provides extra information panels, photographs, reading material and videos. "It helps to give some context to the artists and their work," says Jill.

Also in the Salon, visitors can enjoy the Café Guerbois, patterned after the cafés the Impressionists frequented, with food from the Mediterranean Bistro. "Visitors can go to exhibition, have a coffee or a light lunch in the cafe, then spend some time looking at all the other exhibitions we have," Jill says.

Right now, besides the Impressionists, visitors can explore "The Powwow: An Art History," a MacKenzie-produced exhibition that looks at the powwow through art and photography over the last hundred years, and brings together pieces from many different artists from all over North America. Another current exhibit is a display of work by Norval Morrisseau, a well-recognized aboriginal artist. As well, the MacKenzie's Studio Series, which focuses on local artists, currently features work by Jeff Nachtigall.

"One of the most exiting parts about having a show like the Impressionist Masterworks is that people might come back and see the MacKenzie again," says Jill. "That's what we're really hoping, to give them a great visitor experience, so that even if it's their first time they'll say, 'Wow, what a great place.'"

They will--and it is.

Posted September 22, 2004