Galebert--Complete Collection of World-Famous Painters

Author: Huang Shuping
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Features: The characteristics of Impressionism can be summarized in two points: one is the pursuit of depicting light and color, and the other is the selection of subjects from their familiar daily lives. Since they all lived in Paris, naturally, their works focused on urban life scenes in Paris. Gustave Geerardt's paintings well illustrate this quality of Impressionism. Although Geerardt was known as an outsider of the Paris Impressionist movement, he was one of the key members of the Impressionist painter group. He participated in several Impressionist exhibitions and even organized one of them. What's particularly notable is that Geerardt was also a renowned collector of works by famous Impressionist painters. Born into a wealthy family and passionate about art, in addition to painting himself, he continuously purchased paintings from his Impressionist friends of the same era, amassing a collection of many Impressionist masterpieces. In 1876, at the age of 28, Geerardt decided to donate his Impressionist collection to France. Initially, he chose the Luxembourg Museum, but later hoped to have it housed in the Louvre. This substantial donation by Geerardt also helped France recognize the value of Impressionist paintings and their market price, attracting widespread attention and becoming a celebrated story. Today, this collection of masterpieces is housed in the Orsay Museum in Paris, continuing to be admired by the world.