French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
It’s a fair guess the most popular work in French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, will be Renoir’s Dance at Bougival (1883). The National Gallery of Victoria has anticipated this Number One status with a presentation that would have made Renoir blush: a bright red room with gold trimmings, chandelier, ornate carpet, twin red couches, and a piano. It’s bold, eye-catching, and frankly over-the-top.
The room reflects the shameless theatricality that has become a trademark of the NGV’s exhibition design in recent years. Some will see it as a distraction from the art on the walls, but it’s a distraction that doesn’t seem to have hurt attendance figures. Speaking personally, I’d sooner see art museums try a few wild ideas than go through the same old routines every time. There’s also the suggestion that the French Impressionists are so familiar to audiences it’s worth a little experimentation.
Every great exhibition requires an orginal thesis but it’s getting progressively harder to find new ways of looking at wellknown artists such as Monet, Renoir and Degas. The modest proposal from the MFA’s Katie Hanson and Julia Welch, who have co-curated this show with the NGV’s Ted Gott and Miranda Wallace, was that we should pay closer attention to the Impressionists’ actual words, as a way of deepening our understanding of the human beings behind the art.