The Private Lives of the Impressionists

by Sue Roe

Overview

The New York Times–bestselling biography of Manet, Cezanne, Degas, and others—a “revealing group portrait . . . lively, required reading” (People).

Though they were often ridiculed or ignored by their contemporaries, their paintings are now revered around the world. Their dazzling works are familiar to even the most casual art lovers—but how well do we know the Impressionists as people? The first book to offer an intimate and lively biography of the world’s most popular group of artists, including Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Cézanne, Renoir, Degas, Sisley, Morisot, and Cassatt.

Sue Roe’s Private Lives of the Impressionists, follows an extraordinary group of artists into their Paris studios, down the rural lanes of Montmartre, and into the rowdy riverside bars of a city undergoing monumental change. Vivid and deeply researched, it casts a brilliant light on this unparalleled society of genius colleagues who lived and worked together for twenty years—and transformed the art world with their breathtaking depictions of ordinary life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061978968
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	370
Sales rank:	269,632
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Sue Roe is the author of several books, including a widely praised biography of the artist Gwen John. She lives and teaches in Brighton, England.

Read an Excerpt

The Private Lives of the Impressionists

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By Sue Roe

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Sue Roe
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0060545585

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Chapter One

Napoleon III's Paris

'The Seine. I have painted it all my life, at all hours of the day, at all times of the year, from Paris to the sea . . . Argenteuil, Poissy, Vétheuil, Giverny, Rouen, Le Havre.'
--Claude Monet

The Seine flowed through its narrow bed, meandering from Paris to the Normandy coast, drawing all the countryside between into one region. 'Le Havre, Rouen and Paris are a single city, in which the Seine is a winding road,' Napoleon III, Emperor of France, was fond of saying. In Paris, along its banks, rows of irregular-shaped houses made a low, untidy skyline. On the Île Saint-Louis, large, old houses with balconies and balustrades lined the narrow road skirting the river. On the Left Bank, the horizon was wide open as far as the blue slate gables of the hôtel de ville; on the right bank you could see as far as the lead-covered dome of Saint Paul's. The Seine was a working river, its surface a clutter of colour, alive with cargo. Emile Zola later described it, in his novel L'Oeuvre: 'a dormant flotilla of skiffs and dinghies, . . . barges loaded with coal lighters . . . flat river barges were moored four deep along the Mail. Piled high with yellow apples, they made a blaze of gold.'

Early in 1860, Claude Monet--twenty, clean-shaven and handsome, with brown,appraising eyes and floppy dark hair--made his way along the Right Bank, to a ramshackle building next to the Palais de Justice, at the angle of the Boulevard de Paris and the quai des Orfèvres. Outside, suspended from the upper floors of the building, swung a huge, rusty sign: SABRA, Dentiste du Peuple. The building where the dentist pulled teeth at one franc apiece also housed the studio of 'Père' Suisse, a former artist's model of uncertain origins who twice daily opened his doors so that students could, for a fee of ten francs a month, sketch from his model. By February 1860, Monet had begun life as an art student in Paris, attending Suisse's studio every day.

In 1860, Paris was still a medieval city, with dark, mouldering, rat-infested streets, and no efficient sewage system. The jumble of crumbling buildings, and the absence of air and sunlight, trapped all the smells of decay and detritus that people still lived among. Household waste ran in indentations down the middle of the grimy cobbled streets. The poor lived in filthy, broken shacks and shanties clustered around Clichy, Mouffetard and the Louvre. Balzac had called all these the Louvre's 'leprous façades'. Napoleon III himself, who in 1830 had thrown out the republicans and restored the Empire, called Paris 'nothing but a vast ruin, with plenty to suit the rats'. But in 1853, Baron Haussmann had been elected Prefect of the Seine. He immediately began making plans to transform the city. On 1 January 1859, Napoleon signed a decree approving the Baron's plans to tear down the inner city wall. Former suburbs of Paris--including Auteuil, Belleville and Montmartre--now became part of the city. But the suburbs were still comparatively rural, especially Montmartre, which in 1859 was a muddle of houses with gardens, broken-down shacks, and cheap little run-down bars and crémeries. The country lanes of Montmartre housed the poor workers employed by the seamstresses, florists and laundresses who worked at the foot of the hillside in Pigalle. This was also the district--lively with cafés, brasseries and café-concerts (cabarets)--where the artists congregated. They gathered in the Café de Bade, Tortini's or the Moulin Rouge, where among chilled pitchers brimming with pink champagne, grimy young men were surrounded by women in brash, red lipstick and cheap crinolines.

The rich were ferried in horse-drawn carriages down the newly created Boulevard Haussmann to the Opéra in Pigalle's rue le Peletier, the women decked out in silk-embroidered crinolines, feathers and pearls. But not just the rich: everyone was on the move. In 1855, the Universal Exhibition--a vast, commercial fair, designed to demonstrate to the world Paris's prosperity, and to show off its decorative arts and material culture--had introduced new fashions and set new precedents in taste. The Emperor's musical soirées, held in the gardens of the Château of the Tuileries, set the sartorial tone. The audiences comprised a mingling of the haute bourgeoisie with newly affluent members of the upwardly mobile merchant and industrial classes who were moving into Haussmann's new apartments and buying chic, new mass-produced ornaments and furniture. Since 1857, 300 newly acquired horse-drawn omnibuses had been circulating among neighbouring boulevards (not simply, as they once had, servicing the more profitable routes). For the first time, Parisians could move easily through the city for shopping and entertainment, although the top deck was barred to women, for fear of their showing their ankles as they mounted the stairs. Haussmann was laying down new streets, pulling down whole districts, and creating new squares. Some said Haussmann's Paris was designed for the easy surveillance of approaching armies; others, that it was really contrived to drive the poor of Paris away from the central arrondissements, out to the suburbs. As the construction took place, and the industrial and commercial classes began to purchase smart new apartments, there was increased potential for extravagance, commerce and the pursuit of pleasure, and an obsession with clothes and decoration. The city was in a state of flux. There was a new sense of bustle and movement, and, for the first time, a mix of people of all classes in the streets, which smelled unmistakably of Paris: a mingling of leeks and lilacs. When the bulldozers arrived and began their clearing-up operation to remove the workers' shacks and create the rue de Rivoli, the rag-pickers came in: tramps and absinthe drinkers, poking about among the debris for the coins and jewellery rumoured to be buried there.

Continues...

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Excerpted from The Private Lives of the Impressionists by Sue Roe Copyright © 2006 by Sue Roe. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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What People are Saying About This

Kathryn Hughes

“Roe synthesizes the welath of published...work on half a dozen artists into a coherent narrative of kith and kinship”

Tom Rosenthal

“Widely researched...[Roe] has a neat, light touch.”

Henrietta Garnett

“A compelling subject: Sue Roe’s book does it justice and is a pleasure to read.”

Editorial Reviews

From Monet and Pissarro's first meeting in Paris in 1860 to art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel's influential 1886 Impressionist exhibition in New York City, the group known as the Impressionists Manet, Monet, Pissarro, C zanne, Renoir, Degas, Sisley, Morisot and Cassatt struggled to build their reputations, support themselves financially and create meaningful personal lives. In this meticulously researched and vividly written book, British writer Roe (Gwen John) argues that their drive for success was the strongest unifying factor among this diverse group of artists, including the antisocial, celibate Degas, the socialist Pissarro and the chronically depressed Sisley, who resented the Impressionists' meager public appreciation until the very end of his life. Roe's nuanced portraits of these artists include personal details both small the American Cassatt's booming voice and "atrocious" French accent and significant Manet's illegitimate son and his upper-middle-class family's elaborate efforts to conceal the child's existence. The result is a comprehensive and revealing group portrait, superbly contextualized within the period's volatile political, socioeconomic and artistic shifts. Roe's book will be of great interest to both art and social historians as well as to the general reader. 16 pages of color illus., b&w illus; 1 map. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

An accomplished scholar who's written prolifically in the area of 19th- and 20th-century French and English painting, 20th-century English literature, and 20th-century aesthetics, Roe (creative studies, Univ. of Sussex; Gwen John: A Painter's Life) here offers a collective biography that explores how Manet, Monet, Pissarro, C zanne, and several other impressionist artists met, lived, and worked together. However scholarly Roe's background, her new book is more charming than academically rigorous. Admirably free of intellectual jargon and scholarly citation devices, it is a decidedly readable work that should engage lay readers and spur undergraduates to conduct authentic research of their own. But despite the inclusion of seemingly extensive endnotes, a bibliography, and an index, a more cerebral audience may quickly become frustrated by Roe's perplexing citation style and will be left wondering how much of the information is extrapolated from reliable sources. Recommended for public libraries.-Jennifer H. Krivickas, Yale Ctr. for British Art, New Haven Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Group portrait of the French artists linked by shifting alliances who emerged in the 1860s, endured parody and ridicule before triumphing at their first New York City exhibition in 1886 and enjoy towering reputations (and prices) today. In his late 70s, near death but still painting, Renoir reportedly said of his profession, "I think I am beginning to understand something about it." His words could serve as an epigraph for this fine synthesis of a remarkable movement and its principals. It took decades for professional art critics and the public to accept the work of Manet, Monet, Degas, Cezanne and the other astonishingly talented artists who, for survival's sake, first formed a loose coalition, then actually wrote and signed a (short-lived) charter. Poet and novelist Roe has written about the art world before (Gwen John: A Painter's Life, 2001) and here shows evidence of having read the significant biographies of both major and minor players (many quotations are tertiary) and of walking the ground the notables once trod. The title suggests titillation and does not disappoint, with its frank account of the subjects' financial and personal struggles, loves and losses. But she also deals with the era's political, economic and military developments. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 had a particularly powerful impact on the artists; a number of them ran toward the fray, and one of their number, Bazille, died in battle. Roe has plucked from her subjects' lives many engaging and poignant stories: Renoir's escape from a firing squad, Manet's fascination with feet (and his death from syphilis), the savage reviews the group endured from critic Albert Wolff, Degas's struggles with his sculpture ofa young dancer. The author properly emphasizes the pivotal role played by art-dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who believed in the Impressionists from the start and dedicated his life to their cause-and financial solvency. Intelligent and well-crafted portraits of some of history's most intriguing geniuses.

Kirkus Reviews

Anyone who has ever lost themselves in Monet’s color-saturated gardens or swooned over Degas’s dancers will enjoy this revealing group portrait of the artists who founded the Impressionist movement….for the armchair dilettante, as well as the art-history student, this is lively, required reading.” — People

“Exceptionally detailed and thoroughly researched….Roe has done an admirable job of unearthing…countless…source materials.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“The pleasure in reading Sue Roe’s The Private Lives of the Impressionists comes from forgetting the ways in which we usually think of these artists…What stands out finally is the perseverance of these artists; amid all the pressures, they kept learning from and inspiring one another.” — Boston Globe

“THE PRIVATE LIVES OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS belongs not on the cocktail table…but on the bookshelf…a wonderful read, emotionally stirring and beautifully written.” — Christian Science Monitor

“The title suggests titillation and does not disappoint...Intelligent and well-crafted portraits of some of history’s most intriguing geniuses.” — Kirkus Starred Review

“Roe constructs a penetrating group portrait...scintillatingly detailed and empathic.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Meticulously researched and vividly written...a comprehensive and revealing group portrait.” — Publishers Weekly

“An entertaining, informative read...this [is a] wonderfully written biography.” — The Bookseller

“Charming… a decidedly readable work that should engage lay readers and spur undergraduates to conduct authentic research of their own.” — Library Journal

“A compelling subject: Sue Roe’s book does it justice and is a pleasure to read.” — Henrietta Garnett, Literary Review

“An illuminating insight into the lives of aesthetic revolutionaries” — Daily Telegraph (London)

“Vivid, superbly researched...Sue Roe transports us back to their Paris” — Daily Mail (London)

“Roe synthesizes the welath of published...work on half a dozen artists into a coherent narrative of kith and kinship” — Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian

“Widely researched...[Roe] has a neat, light touch.” — Tom Rosenthal, Independent on Sunday

“Wonderful…Roe has a lively writing style and does a good job of delineating the personalities of each artist.” — Providence Journal

From the Publisher

The pleasure in reading Sue Roe’s The Private Lives of the Impressionists comes from forgetting the ways in which we usually think of these artists…What stands out finally is the perseverance of these artists; amid all the pressures, they kept learning from and inspiring one another.

Boston Globe

Anyone who has ever lost themselves in Monet’s color-saturated gardens or swooned over Degas’s dancers will enjoy this revealing group portrait of the artists who founded the Impressionist movement….for the armchair dilettante, as well as the art-history student, this is lively, required reading.

People

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS belongs not on the cocktail table…but on the bookshelf…a wonderful read, emotionally stirring and beautifully written.

Christian Science Monitor

A compelling subject: Sue Roe’s book does it justice and is a pleasure to read.

Henrietta Garnett

An entertaining, informative read...this [is a] wonderfully written biography.

The Bookseller

Roe constructs a penetrating group portrait...scintillatingly detailed and empathic.

Booklist (starred review)

Exceptionally detailed and thoroughly researched….Roe has done an admirable job of unearthing…countless…source materials.

San Francisco Chronicle

Exceptionally detailed and thoroughly researched….Roe has done an admirable job of unearthing…countless…source materials.

San Francisco Chronicle

An illuminating insight into the lives of aesthetic revolutionaries

Daily Telegraph (London)

An entertaining, informative read...this [is a] wonderfully written biography.

Bookseller

Vivid, superbly researched...Sue Roe transports us back to their Paris

Daily Mail (London)

Roe synthesizes the welath of published...work on half a dozen artists into a coherent narrative of kith and kinship

Kathryn Hughes

Widely researched...[Roe] has a neat, light touch.

Tom Rosenthal

Wonderful…Roe has a lively writing style and does a good job of delineating the personalities of each artist.

Providence Journal

"Roe constructs a penetrating group portrait...scintillatingly detailed and empathic."

Booklist