Into the Light:

French and British Painting from Impressionism to the early 1920s

About the
exhibition

This exhibition surveyed the production of paintings on both sides of the Channel during this decisive period in the history of European art. The development of artists’ materials and the way they could transport them allowed painters to develop new approaches and techniques. As this exhibition showed, the result offered a more spontaneous response to place and stunning depictions of the shifting of light over the landscape which often challenged academic standards.

Into the light revealed connections and compares the work of British and French Impressionists and Post-impressionists. It offered a rare opportunity to consider whether British artists were merely following French innovations or were producing work that was more suited to contemporary British interests and values.

The exhibition contained 53 works by artists including Vanessa Bell, Eugene Boudin, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Walter Sickert, Alfred Sisley, Alexander Stanhope Forbes and Philip Wilson Steer.

Organised by the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter.