Celebrating the opening of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces® exhibition French Impressionism, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Dr Katie Hanson, Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, shares insights into Edouard Manet’s Street Singer, c. 1862, from the MFA Collection.
In the early 1860s, Paris was in the midst of a modern reshaping now commonly referred to as Haussmann’s renovation of Paris, named for Georges-Eugène Haussmann who led the extensive public works project commissioned by French Emperor Napoleon III that would transform the city. At the same time, artist Edouard Manet was developing his distinctive vision, and Victorine Meurent began working as a model.
With a special focus on the MFA’s painting Street Singer , c. 1862, take a deep dive into Manet’s chosen subjects and exhibition strategies, the Hausmannization of Paris, and the gambit of a model turned artist.
Drawn from MFA Boston’s rich collection of Impressionist masterworks, French Impressionism presents more than 100 paintings by key figures including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, Paul Signac and Alfred Sisley. Audiences will have the opportunity to experience the hallmarks of Impressionism: distinctive brushwork, vivid use of colour, innovative viewpoints, and depictions of subjects and places dear to the artists.
Through ten thematic sections, French Impressionism will evoke the artistic energy and intellectual dynamism of the period by placing emphasis on the thoughts and observations of the artists themselves. Their words, as recorded in letters, journals and articles, will reveal the mutual admiration and personal connections that united the practitioners at the centre of this avant-garde movement.
Dr Katie Hanson is William and Ann Elfers Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). She has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions, including Van Gogh:The Roulin Family Portraits (2025), Paul Cézanne: Influence (2021), Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression (2020), Klimt and Schiele: Drawn (2018) and Pairing Picasso (2016). Her publications include contributions to anthologies, exhibition catalogues and journals, addressing artists from Jean-Honoré Fragonard to Henri Matisse.
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