Before the 19th century rise of impressionism and the plein-air technique (painting outdoors), the subject matter that dominated European paintings–especially those from the French Academy–was formal and historical. Artists painted in a studio and focused mostly on painting historical events, biblical narratives, mythology, and portraits of royal or wealthy patrons. There was some focus on everyday life at the time; however, these paintings were centered on peasants or domestic scenes and were ranked low in the hierarchy of painting genres. Also low in the hierarchy were landscape paintings, which, to gain significance, had to feature mythological figures or historical subjects on the landscape. These paintings were often created from imagination or sketches and not painted outdoors. Artists such as Eugène Boudin and Johan Barthold Jongkind were of the first to paint directly outdoors. Their works were a precursor to the Impressionist movement, as many artists who are known for Impressionism today were inspired by their pieces and their advice. Claude Monet was one who was mentored by both Boudin and Jongkind and is known to be one of the earliest true Impressionist painters along with Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley, Paul Cézanne, and Armand Guillaumin. These particular students decided to team with artists like Boudin and break away from the French Academy’s standards for good painting. Because the Impressionist movement featured many landscapes and outdoor everyday scenes, the subject matter mostly depicted the bourgeoisie–a wealthy social class that had emerged–enjoying leisure time outside. These new patrons desired to see themselves and their lifestyles of vacations, pleasure, and the outdoors reflected in art. Leisure grew in popularity and began to embody the characteristics of modern life as it represented cosmopolitan free time and mobility. Each artist during this time had their own unique methods for representing this idea of leisure.
On the Beach, Dieppe
Eugène Boudin, 1864, Oil on wood painting, 12 1/2 x 11 1/2 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 2003.20.1
Boudin enjoyed capturing beach scenes along the Normandy coast–an area that grew in popularity for Impressionist painters over time. The Bourgeoisie peppered the coast, strolling down the long stretches of sand or sitting and chatting, their dresses and coattails blowing around in the ocean breeze. Boudin claimed he was less interested in the “little dolls” in his paintings (how he referred to the figures) and more interested in representing them as a group bathed in an atmosphere of nature and light. Boudin’s subject matter mainly consisted of Bourgeois families, women in fashionable dresses, and people relaxing and gazing at the horizon. His work elevated ordinary leisurely activities into legitimate fine art subject matter that was respectable and commercially successful. After Boudin’s work, many artists became fascinated in this region of France, and they would follow tourist routes to find scenes to paint, meaning that the viewers would have recognized the scenes. Many wealthy patrons enjoyed seeing their everyday activities depicted in a painting. Boudin also popularized the technique of painting en plein air (outdoors), which made it easier to find candid subjects and to capture real moments of leisure. Because of his work, leisure became central to the Impressionist aesthetic.
Regatta at Sainte-Adresse
Claude Monet, 1867, Oil on canvas painting, 29 5/8 x 40 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 51.30.4
Monet, inspired by Boudin’s plein air technique, began painting outdoors as well and capturing the Bourgeoisie during their leisurely activities. However, Monet was not trying to communicate his approval of the social practices of the upper classes but rather experimenting with this new subject matter. The finished products of Monet’s paintings seemed to transcend the canvas, which is what made him one of the most prominent Impressionist painters of all time. In this particular painting, men and women watch the regatta from the shore, and the viewers see a traditional seacoast scene that has been infiltrated by modern life. The only representation of local life is the small fishing boat pulled onto shore surrounded by fishermen, which implies that only those who are wealthy can relax; the fishermen must keep working. The parasol held by the woman in the bottom left reveals the woman’s social status as the device was known to protect middle to upper class women from the effects of natural sunlight. This regatta was likely put on by a local yacht club as a commodity for those who could afford free time. Nearer to the beginning of his career, Monet enjoyed painting tourists; however, he later began painting lonely scenes free of tourists as he realized that modern culture was turning local villages into resorts.
Garden at Sainte-Adresse
Claude Monet, 1869, Oil on canvas painting, 38 5/8 x 51 1/8 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 67.241
Monet spent a summer with family in Sainte-Adresse along the Normandy coast, a trip funded by his father. He has a collection of several paintings derived from this trip. Seaside tourism was growing in popularity in Normandy. Boudin had taught Monet that everything in the sky was beautiful, so Monet took advantage of sky and ocean scenes to experiment with light, shadows, moving water, and atmospheric depth. His paintings often placed the viewer just outside the leisure activity, as with this painting, the viewer is placed behind the flower-covered stone wall. This placement suggests that he was depicting leisure as something to be observed but not participated in which enforces the idea that leisure is a performance or display of social status. It could also allude to Monet’s own financial insecurity at the time, and the way he felt like an outsider who could only observe upper class activities. He skillfully depicts the sunlight and weather–which likely would have changed during the process of painting–to capture a single moment in time. This piece was painted in a similar spot as his Regatta at Sainte-Adresse; with the two paintings side by side, he shows the differences between private and public leisure as these figures enjoy an ocean view from a more secluded area lifted above the beaches.
The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil
Edouard Manet, 1874, Oil on canvas painting, 24 x 39 1/4 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 1976.201.14
Manet was not explicitly part of the Impressionist movement; however, this portrayal of Monet’s family is his experimentation with Impressionism as a technique. With this painting, Manet successfully intertwines Impressionist values with the depiction of a bourgeoisie family, emphasizing the values of leisure, work, child-rearing, and outdoor living all at once. It is a snapshot of the modern bourgeois ideal while also representing the artistic community that made the Impressionist movement possible. Manet was used to working in a studio, but with this piece, he experiments with the idea of painting en plein air as he enjoyed a beautiful day outside with the Monet family. Manet enjoyed specifically depicting figures in a way that communicated to the viewer the effects of social conventions and, perhaps, boredom on vacationers and high class tourists. He combined the skills he had for spotting these phenomena with Monet’s eye for nature depictions. Some scholars describe this summer in Argenteuil as a crossroads in history where two distinct artists begin combining their techniques and learning from one another. Manet’s painting shows his support for the development of vacation and leisure painting as legitimate and iconic. Depictions of leisure in art became snapshots of shifting cultural values and lifestyles.
The Fishermen (Fantastic Scene)
Paul Cézanne, 1875, Oil on canvas painting, 21 3/4 x 32 1/4 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 2001.473
With this painting, Cézanne refers back to paintings by Manet and Monet from the 1860s as he depicts outdoor leisure time for elegantly-attired men, women, and children on a beautiful afternoon by the water. He represents both the upper and lower classes in the same scene, which emphasizes that the working class must spend their time working while the upper class enjoys free time on the grass in conversation with one another. It is thought that the man with his back turned in the lower left corner of the painting may be Cézanne himself enjoying a stroll in the scene. His subject matter mostly includes everyday activities of working-class men and communal activities like fishing and bathing. Encouraged by the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, Cézanne began painting en plain air as well. Cézanne was less entranced by the upper-class leisure life and more interested in mastering the depiction of landscapes; however, his paintings often included figures taking joy in the simplicities of nature. Leisure scenes gave him an excuse to put group people together in his paintings to represent social phenomena. He bridges Impressionism and modern art by transforming simple leisure into something profound that makes the viewer question the way he lives life.
Figures on the Beach
Auguste Renoir, 1890, Oil on canvas painting, 20 3/4 × 25 1/4 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 1975.1.198
Many of Renoir’s paintings feature activities of modern leisure. This particular painting presents two women enjoying time on the beach together, carefree and not in the presence of any men, along with a child playing in the water. Their ability to visit the beach during their free time and rest clearly represents modern, middle to upper class life, but Renoir turns the experience into a more familial, intimate, and warm moment. He employs Impressionist techniques like visible brushstrokes and vibrant hues of color. He elevates leisure into an activity that fosters joy and deepens relationships between people. The child splashing in the ocean suggests that leisure is play for both children and adults. This particular depiction of free time activities emphasizes the simple pleasures of being together without the pressures of the public eye. Renoir shows the viewer that modern life does not always imply industrialization and public performance. Humans still enjoy the simple and the ordinary despite shifts in cultural values, norms, and lifestyle. Renoir skillfully captures the fleeting moments of spending time with loved ones through the leisure activities of modern culture. He uses the growing popularity of representing modern culture in art to communicate this theme throughout many of his pieces.
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