About

One of the leading encyclopedic museums in the country, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (NAMA) is recognized for its European collections. In 2015, Kansas City collectors Henry and Marion Bloch expanded NAMA’s already significant holdings by donating their collection of twenty-nine Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces. This gift transformed the museum by broadening the scope of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century art available to our visitors, bringing NAMA’s French collection to a total of 110 French paintings and pastels dating between 1600 and 1945. Collection highlights include masterworks by Nicolas Poussin, François Boucher, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Jean-François Millet, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh, among others. While the majority of the museum’s French works are on display for local visitors, this online collection catalogue brings the entire corpus of French paintings and pastels to visitors and scholars worldwide. In this definitive scholarly resource, noted specialists and museum staff present in-depth research and discussion about each painting and pastel.

This custom online catalogue enables a deeper exploration of these artworks, with zoomable high-resolution photography, comparative figures, and fully searchable text. The complete catalogue can be downloaded for free in multiple formats, as can the object data and main images.

For the best experience, the catalogue should be viewed in the most recent versions of Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. If you are experiencing issues with images not appearing as expected, try clearing your cookies or opening the URL in an incognito window.

The French paintings catalogue is generously supported by The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation, The National Endowment for the Humanities (http://www.neh.gov), Adelaide Cobb Ward in honor of Donald J. Hall’s retirement, The Mellon Endowment for Scientific Research, The National Endowment for the Arts (https://www.arts.gov), The James Sight Fund, and The Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

Land Acknowledgement

While the digital catalogue lives in the virtual realm, the museum is at the address of 4525 Oak Street, which is on the homelands of Native American peoples, at the juncture of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. In recent years, these nations have included the Missouria, Oto, Kansa, Osage, Shawnee, and Delaware. We pay respects to all Indigenous peoples—past, present, and future—for their continuing presence in the homeland and throughout the Native American diaspora. Learn more about our commitments to better represent, elevate, and support Indigenous cultures and people on our website.

Citation Information

Chicago

Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, ed. French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2021), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.

MLA

Marcereau DeGalan, Aimee, editor. French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2021. doi: 10.37764/78973

Permanent URL

https://doi.org/10.37764/78973

Contact

Research is always ongoing. We are open to learning more about our collection. Do you have a question or comment? Have you found inaccurate or problematic information? Please tell us more!

Please direct questions and comments to FrenchPaintings[at]nelson-atkins.org

Digital Catalogue Updates

French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945 is a serial publication, and more research and entries will be regularly added. Therefore, the data is subject to change. Object information (such as artist attribution, title, or date) may change as new research is conducted. However, essays will remain constant. They are versioned and citable with assurances of a permanent address to the information referenced.

Any revisions or corrections made to this publication after the first edition date will be listed here. For a detailed list of each catalogue entry and the date it was published, see Publication Installments.

Click to see revisions or corrections.

February 26, 2021: First edition (including four catalogue entries)

March 26, 2021: Two catalogue entries

April 23, 2021: Two catalogue entries

May 28, 2021: Two catalogue entries. Changed title of Camille Pissarro, from Paris, Rue Saint-Honoré, Sun Effect, Afternoon to Paris, Rue Saint-Honoré, Sun Effect, Morning, to match Durand-Ruel stock books.

June 25, 2021: Two catalogue entries

July 30, 2021: Two catalogue entries. Changed title of Camille Pissarro, from The Market at Gisors to The Market at Pontoise (or The Market at Gisors).

August 27, 2021: Two catalogue entries. Added four new acquisitions: Jean-Baptiste-Armand Guillaumin, Moret-sur-Loing, Evening Effect, and Morning, Rouen; and Louis Valtat, Wheat Field with Poppies, and Two Bouquets with Daffodils, Snowdrops, and Pansies.

September 24, 2021: Two catalogue entries

October 29, 2021: Two catalogue entries

November 26, 2021: Two catalogue entries

December 31, 2021: Two catalogue entries

January 28, 2022: Two catalogue entries. Changed title of Camille Pissarro, from Paris, Rue Saint-Honoré, Sun Effect, Morning to Paris, Rue Saint-Honoré, Sun Effect, Afternoon, after research by Brigid M. Boyle in her forthcoming catalogue entry on the painting.

February 25, 2022: Two catalogue entries. Updated URL for Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Study for “Young Girls Playing Volant”, ca. 1875–1885.

March 25, 2022: Two catalogue entries

April 29, 2022: Two catalogue entries

May 27, 2022: Two catalogue entries

June 24, 2022: Two catalogue entries

July 29, 2022: Two catalogue entries

August 26, 2022: Three catalogue entries

September 30, 2022: Three catalogue entries. Added more information to provenance endnote 1 in Odilon Redon, The Green Vase, ca. 1900.

October 28, 2022: Three catalogue entries. Changed title of Alfred Sisley, from Rue de la Princesse, Winter to Rue de la Princesse, Evening, after research by Brigid M. Boyle in her forthcoming catalogue entry on the painting.

November 18, 2022: Two catalogue entries

December 22, 2022: Two catalogue entries. Changed title of Christian Adolf Schreyer, from Arab Horsemen to Algerian Horsemen near an Oasis (possibly Biskra), after research by Glynnis Napier Stevenson in her catalogue entry on the painting. Updated date of Alfred Sisley, The Embankment at Billancourt—Snow from “1879” to “ca. 1879” after research by Brigid M. Boyle in her forthcoming catalogue entry on the painting.

January 27, 2023: Two catalogue entries

February 24, 2023: Two catalogue entries.

March 31, 2023: Two catalogue entries.

April 28, 2023: Two catalogue entries.

May 26, 2023: Two catalogue entries.

June 30, 2023: One catalogue entry about two paintings. Updated the spelling of Nicolas de Largilliere’s last name to “Largillierre.”

July 28, 2023: Two catalogue entries. Changed the title of Camille Pissarro, from Banks of the Seine at Port Marly to Waterworks of the Marly Machine at Bougival. Changed the date of Thomas Couture, The Illness of Pierrot, from “ca. 1859–1860” to “ca. 1867–1868.”

August 25, 2023: Two catalogue entries. Technical entry for Camille Pissarro, The Market at Pontoise (or The Market at Gisors).

September 29, 2023: Two catalogue entries.

October 27, 2023: Two catalogue entries.

November 24, 2023: Two catalogue entries.

December 29, 2023: Two catalogue entries. Changed the title of Edgar Degas, from Little Milliners to Junior Milliners.

January 26, 2024: Two catalogue entries.

February 23, 2024: Two catalogue entries. Changed the title of Etienne Aubry, from The Offending Son to Scene from “Lucile” after research by Glynnis Napier Stevenson in her catalogue entry on the painting.

March 29, 2024: Two catalogue entries. Changed the title of the painting attributed to Rose Adélaïde Ducreux, Portrait of Diane de la Vaupalière, Comtesse de Langeron to the correct version of the sitter’s name, Portrait of Marie Thérèse Diane Andrault (née Maignard de la Vaupalière, 1768–1790), Comtesse de Langeron.

April 3, 2024: Revised credit line for Claude Monet, Mill at Limetz and its related canvas.

April 26, 2024: Two catalogue entries. Changed the date of François Boucher, Venus with Cupid from eighteenth century to 1750s after research by Glynnis Napier Stevenson in her catalogue entry on the pastel. Changed the date of Pierre Bonnard, The White Cupboard, from 1931 to 1931–1932 after research by Brigid M. Boyle in her catalogue entry on the painting.

May 31, 2024: Two catalogue entries. Updated collection information for Fig. 1 in Claude Monet, Mill at Limetz.

June 28, 2024: Two catalogue entries.

July 26, 2024: Two catalogue entries. Technical entry for François Boucher, Venus with Cupid, 1750s.

August 30, 2024: Two catalogue entries.

September 27, 2024: Two appendix entries.

October 25, 2024: Two catalogue entries. Changed the date of Jean Marc Nattier, Portrait of Isidore Florimond Marié, Seigneur de Toulle et de Foucaucourt-hors-Nesle, a Knight of the Royal French Military Order of Saint-Louis from 174[1 or 4] to 1741. Changed the date of Henri Fantin-Latour, Annual Chrysanthemums, from ca. 1889 to 1889.

November 29, 2024. Two catalogue entries.

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Overview of image use by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for this publication

This digital publication platform provides unique opportunities for researching the French paintings collection at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The museum respects copyright and the interests of artists in protecting their works. The images are intended to support the scholarship on this platform; in several cases, they are shown at a relatively small size, enabling the museum to rely on a fair use defense with respect to such images and without which publication of this educational resource would not have been possible. The Nelson-Atkins believes that this application of the fair use exception with respect to the use of images on the platform is in keeping with the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts issued by the College Art Association (http://www.collegeart.org/programs/caa-fair-use/best-practices), the Guidelines for the Use of Copyrighted Materials and Works of Art by Art Museums issued by the Association of Art Museum Directors https://aamd.org/sites/default/files/document/Guidelines for the Use of Copyrighted Materials.pdf, and developing case law.

Published by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
www.nelson-atkins.org
Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, project director and editor
Meghan L. Gray, project manager and editor
Stephen Robert Frankel, copyeditor and translator; Jessica Skwire Routhier, copyeditor; Wendy Partridge, conservation copyeditor
Stephanie Alger, digital publication associate
Rachel Rolon, James Schwartz, Shelly Xiong, and Michael Taggart, developers

Title: French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art / Aimee Marcereau DeGalan

Description: Kansas City : Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, [2021]| ©2021–2024 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: ISBN 978-0-9970446-3-8 (print) | ISBN 978-0-9970446-2-1 (ebook) | doi: 10.37764/78973

Subjects: LCSH: Painting, French – Catalogs | Pastel drawing, French – Catalogs | Art, European – Catalogs | Art – Missouri – Kansas City – Catalogs | Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art – Catalogs

This publication was created using Quire™, a multiplatform publishing tool owned by the J. Paul Getty Trust, but revised with the NAMA theme developed by Michael Taggart and Stephanie Alger. https://github.com/Nelson-Atkins-Museum/NAMA-Quire-Theme

Cover: Edgar Degas, Rehearsal of the Ballet, ca. 1876, gouache and pastel over monotype on laid paper, plate: 22 1/4 x 27 1/2 in. (56.5 x 70 cm), sheet (irregular): 23 13/16 x 29 3/16 in. (60.5 x 74.2 cm), Purchase: the Kenneth A. and Helen F. Spencer Foundation Acquisition Fund, F73-30 (detail) [www.nelson-atkins.org/fpc/impressionism/614]

doi: 10.37764/78973.2.1020