Barbizon. The cradle of European landscape painting I Barbizon. Wiege der europäischen Landschaftsmalerei.
The Kunstmuseum Schwaan is pleased to announce the exhibition ‘Barbizon. Cradle of Modern Landscape Painting.’. The exhibition is dedicated to the history of the Barbizon artists’ colony and its profound significance for the development of European art history. The towns of Schwaan and Barbizon have been twinned since 2022.
Barbizon, a charming village on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest, is located around 60 kilometres south of Paris and was a magnet for artists in the 19th century. Nestled in the idyllic countryside, which even impressed the French kings, it offered painters the perfect backdrop for their works. Its proximity to Paris, with its exhibition opportunities, collectors and patrons, enabled artists to sell their work and benefit from the advantages of the big city while enjoying the tranquillity of country life.
From around 1830, Barbizon developed into an important artists’ colony, which became known as the “Barbizon School”. The artists of this school propagated a realistic view of the landscape, known as ‘paysage intime’. Their influence on the Impressionists was considerable: in the late 1860s, young French artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley visited the forest of Fontainebleau to paint the landscape and developed Impressionism in the 1870s. Barbizon is therefore regarded as the ‘mother’ of all European artists’ colonies and the cradle of modern landscape painting.
The exhibition shows 40 works that are leaving France for the first time and thus offer a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of Barbizon. In ‘Barbizon. Cradle of Modern Landscape Painting’, outstanding artists from the colony are presented, including Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Narcisse Diaz de la Peña, Charles-François Daubigny, Jean-François Millet and Théodore Rousseau. Works by Eugene Lavieille, Georges Gassies and Ferdinand Chaigneau are also on display.
