Paul Durand-Ruel and the Impressionists

Here’s a rather fascinating article on the importance of the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel to the Impressionist movement – long story short, he basically created the market for Impressionism and risked everything in doing so, and was sole supporter of many of the artists that are now hailed as masters of Impressionism. The article is in support of an exhibition opening in London at the National Gallery next week – Inventing Impressionism: The Man Who Sold a Thousand Monets opens at the National Gallery, London WC2N, on 4 March. (nationalgallery.org.uk). Sadly I’ll be unable to attend but for fans of Impressionism who do happen to be in the UK, this is an excellent opportunity to see what sounds like a pretty awesome collection.

Claude Monet – Impression, Sunrise (1872)