American Impressionism: Inside/Out

September 14, 2024 - January 5, 2025

American Impressionism: Inside/Out explores the movement of American Impressionism with an emphasis on both interior and exterior settings. The show examines plein air landscapes (or plein air-inspired works) that capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere in all four seasons, and paintings set in everyday interiors—many featuring thoroughly modern women in contemplation, reading, writing, engaging in needlework, drinking, or dressing. Some of the works on view were painted by American artists who spent significant time in France, adopting and absorbing the style that was inaugurated by their French contemporaries. The exhibit features a whole generation of American artists deeply influenced by European painting from the 1870s through the 1920s. Inside/ Out will focus on a group of paintings borrowed from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, enhanced by additional works from RPM’s permanent collection. Some of the featured artists include John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Edmund Tarbell, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Edward Redfield, and Daniel Garber, among others.

This is one of a series of American Art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art as a part of the Art Bridges Cohort program.