Claude Monet, Waterlilies or The Water Lily Pond, 1904

 Claude Monet, Waterlilies or The Water Lily Pond, 1904 Oil

 Axel Ender, Sisters, Hallingdal, 1915 Private collection

Édouard Manet, Moss Roses in a Vase, 1882

Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1923

 Édouard Manet, Moss Roses in a Vase, 1882 Oil on Canvas

Gunnar Berndtson, The Mirror ; The Toilet, 1889

 Gunnar Berndtson, The Mirror ; The Toilet, 1889 Oil on

 Vincent van Gogh, Pollard Willows, 1889 Oil on Canvas, 55 x

Paul Cézanne, Bend in the Road through the Forest (La route tournante en sous-bois), ca. 1873–1875

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Partial gift, George Tetzel in memory of Oscar Homolka and Joan Tetzel Homolka, 1980

 Paul Cézanne, Bend in the Road through the Forest (La route

Francis Picabia, L'église de Montigny, effet d'automne, 1908

 Francis Picabia, L'église de Montigny, effet d'automne

 Sergei Arsenevich Vinogradov, The Lake Oil on Canvas, 71.2

Maxime Maufra, The Marne at Champigny, 1902

 Maxime Maufra, The Marne at Champigny, 1902 Oil on Canvas

Eugène Boudin, Abbeville: Église de Saint-Vulfran, 1894

 Eugène Boudin, Abbeville: Église de Saint-Vulfran, 1894 Oil

Storm (1925). By Zdzisław Jasiński (Polish;1863-1932). Oil on canvas. 📍National Museum, Warsaw.

 Storm (1925). By Zdzisław Jasiński (Polish;1863-1932). Oil

Mariana, (1851). By John Everett Millais (1829-1896).

_art oil on wood, 49.5 x 59.7 cm. 📍Tate Britain

 Mariana, (1851). By John Everett Millais (1829-1896)

"Evening atmosphere in front of the Park" (1881). By Ferdinand Knab (German, 1834 - 1902), Oil on canvas, 48,5 x 38,2 cm. 📍Private collection.

 "Evening atmosphere in front of the Park" (1881). By

Ophelia. By Friedrich Wilhelm Theodor Heyser (1857-1921), oil on canvas, 90.5 x 181.5 cm. 📍private collection.

 Ophelia. By Friedrich Wilhelm Theodor Heyser (1857-1921)

Scene with Bacchantes, (1653). By Jacob van Loo, (1614 - 1670). Oil on canvas, 63 x 55 cm.

 Scene with Bacchantes, (1653). By Jacob van Loo, (1614 -

Hylas and the Nymphs, (detail) (1896) . By John William Waterhouse (1849 - 1917). Oil on canvas, 132.1 cm x 197.5 cm.

 Hylas and the Nymphs, (detail) (1896) . By John William

Phosphorus and Hesperus,(1881). By Evelyn De Morgan, (1855–1919).

_Art . Oil on canvas, 59 cm x 75 cm. 📍De Morgan Centre

This painting inspired by Greek Mythology depicts the Morning star (Phosphorus) and the Evening star (Hesperus) and alludes to the circle of life. Phosphorus is rising, his torch held erect, heralding the morning which is lightening the sky behind him. In comparison Hesperus's evening starlight is fading, as his flame in its dark torch droops and gutters, his eyes are closing, his dark head anticipating the relaxation of sleep. The stylistically flattened figures and marble tones of the young men in the painting reference Evelyn's interest in classical sculpture and the unusual representation of two nude male figures with their phallic torches caused controversy when first exhibited. However, the female hand is apparent in the painting as the seashore backdrop allowed Evelyn to imbue the image with potent female symbolism in the form of sea shells which represent female fertility and sexual potency.

 Phosphorus and Hesperus,(1881). By Evelyn De Morgan

Evening Street, (1906). By Jakub Schikaneder (1855 - 1924).

_art . oil on canvas, 📍National Gallery in Prague

 Evening Street, (1906). By Jakub Schikaneder (1855 - 1924)

The Fortune Teller, (1906). By  Deutsch, Ludwig (1855 - 1935). Oil on panel,  80.6 x 64.1 cm.

 The Fortune Teller, (1906). By  Deutsch, Ludwig (1855 -

The hospital room during the visit of the chief physician, (1889). By Luis Jiménez Aranda (1845-1928), oil on canvas, 290 x 445 cm, 📍Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla

 The hospital room during the visit of the chief physician

The Musician, (1884). By Rudolf Ernst, (1932 - 1854) . Oil on panel, 42 x 32 cm.

was an Austro-French painter, printmaker and ceramics painter who is best known for his orientalist motifs. He exhibited in Paris under the name "Rodolphe Ernst"

A Nubian or Sudanese street musician strums wistfully at his kissar, a type of Nubian plucked lyre. The rich layering of his robe and gown exhibit Ernst’s mastery at conveying textiles of different weights and textures. Indeed, the whole composition is a feast for the senses, convincingly conveying multiple tactile surfaces, from the player's gleaming skin and the geometric wood carving in the door panel on the left, to the mashrabiye lattice window overhanging the street, to the carved stonework. In fact, the musician's expression of concentration and unity with his instrument are so compelling that the tune he plays is almost audible.

 The Musician, (1884). By Rudolf Ernst, (1932 - 1854) . Oil

“Woman Walking down the Road through the Tree ” (1887), By Julius Sergius von Klever, (Russian,)

 “Woman Walking down the Road through the Tree ” (1887), By

The New Governess,(1894). By Edmund Blair Leighton, (English, 1852-1922).

_art . Oil on canvas, 57.7 cm x 39.6 cm. 📍Private Collection .

 The New Governess,(1894). By Edmund Blair Leighton

In brilliant detail, Claude-Joseph Vernet captured the gorgeous weather and leisurely activities of a day by the sea. Fishermen clean the day's catch on a stone pier while several people chat nearby, one of them pointing toward the large ship in the bay. Meanwhile, a man sits and smokes his pipe, the tobacco glowing a bright red. A cumulus cloud, perhaps the remnant of a distant storm, towers to the left of the setting sun. Warm tones of yellow, orange, and red predominate, suggesting a hazy sunset after a bright day.

In A Calm, Vernet portrayed a completely peaceful scene in striking contrast to its pendant, A Storm on a Mediterranean Coast . Taken together, the two works show, on the one hand, nature's benevolence, and on the other, nature's fury.

A Calm at a Mediterranean Port, 1770 by Claude-Joseph Vernet.

 In brilliant detail, Claude-Joseph Vernet captured the

“The Scene of Christ in the Temple”, continues Bartolomeo’s series of motifs of children and the family, which seem to have taken over from his earlier mysticism. This shows the infant Jesus brought by Mary and Joseph to the Temple in Jerusalem, when he was forty days old, in accordance with the law of Moses for first-born male children.

Traditionally this is known as The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, with Mary and Joseph meeting Simeon and Anna, a pious widow. Simeon recognised the infant as the Messiah, praised God, and said that he could now die at peace in the knowledge that the Messiah had come – a prayer known from its opening words in Latin as Nunc dimittis. It is remembered in the festival of Hypapante (Greek for meeting), which is now widely known as Candlemas in northern Europe.

The Scene of Christ in the Temple, 1516 by Fra Bartolomeo.

🏛: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.

 “The Scene of Christ in the Temple”, continues Bartolomeo’s

Moreau seems to have worked first on an oil painting showing just Jupiter and Semele (1889-95). This contains a curious composite of the story, in which Semele has not yet been harmed by thunderbolts, but the foetal Bacchus appears to be resting against her, and Jupiter has assumed his divine form. At the foot of the painting is Jupiter’s attribute of an eagle.

Jupiter and Semele, 1889-95 by Gustave Moreau.

 Moreau seems to have worked first on an oil painting

This present painting, by the American artist Alice Pike Barney (c.1857-1931), is a curious mix of family portrait and mythology. Alice Pike Barney used the face of her daughter, Laura, as the model for the painting. As myths go, Alice made an intriguing choice in deciding which tale she wanted to bring to life with her daughter’s visage. She picked the tragic myth of the ill-fated Gorgon, Medusa from Metamorphosis written by the Roman poet Ovid (c.43 BCE-17 CE)

Medusa was once an exceedingly beautiful maiden,

whose hand in marriage was jealously sought by an army of suitors. Her marvelous hair

was her crowning glory. The story goes that Neptune the sea god

raped this glorious creature inside the shrine of Minerva.

Jove’s daughter screened her virginal eyes with her aegis in horror, and punished the sin, by transforming the Gorgon’s beautiful hair into horrible snakes.

Such was the origin story of the snake-haired Medusa, whose gaze could turn people into stone. To further add to her woes, Medusa was fated to be slain and decapitated by the hero, Perseus. An odd myth, indeed, in which to feature one’s own daughter.

Medusa (Laura Dreyfus Barney), 1892 by Alice Pike Barney.

 This present painting, by the American artist Alice Pike

One of Bastien-Lepage's finest works, particularly popular among Russian artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. ‘The Village Lovers’ was much admired by Valentin Serov, Mikhail Nesterov and Lev Tolstoy. The ability to combine a realistic subject with a lyrical landscape, to record moments of harmony between man and nature with such remarkable precision, brought Bastien-Lepage widespread fame as a 'poetic realist'.

One early reading, by Mette, the wife of Paul Gauguin, held that the girl was under age, and the relationship accordingly beyond the pale. The girl not only faces away from the viewer, but her whole body is turned away, leaving that issue unresolved and unresolvable.

The Village Lovers, 1882 by Jules Bastien-Lepage.

 One of Bastien-Lepage's finest works, particularly popular

Taken from another well known and often painted Old Testament story, The Toilet of Esther (1841) is less strongly narrative. It shows Esther, an orphan daughter of a Benjamite who had been living in exile in Persia. After becoming a member of King Ahasuerus’ harem, Esther dressed in her finest in order to successfully persuade the king to spare the life of her former guardian Mordecai, and to execute his anti-Semitic grand vizier Haman.

The Toilet of Esther, 1841 by Théodore Chassériau. Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 35.5 cm.

 Taken from another well known and often painted Old

“These two figures are seen from behind so that the viewer may participate in their communion with nature. They have been identified as Friedrich, at right, and his friend and disciple August Heinrich (1794–1822). Fascination with the moon ran high among the German Romantics, who regarded the motif as an object of pious contemplation. This is the first version of one of Friedrich’s most famous compositions which was painted during Heinrich’s lifetime (1819; Gemäldegalerie, Dresden) and the second soon after his death (ca. 1824; Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin).⁣

🏛 (New Masters Gallery, Dresden State Art Collections)⁣

 Caspar David Friedrich⁣ Two Men Contemplating the Moon⁣

“In 1822 the art patron and collector, Heinrich Wagener, commissioned a “times of day” diptych from Friedrich. The morning picture became The Solitary Tree. A grassy landscape with groups of trees, ponds, and villages extends to the foothills of the mountains behind the spires of a Gothic town. One mighty oak stands like a statue in the middle of the composition. A shepherd shelters beneath it. Its great trunk has withstood wind and weather, but the tips of the branches of this giant tree have already died off. Above the tree, the clouds form of a kind of cupola. Transgressing against the classical laws of composition, Friedrich cuts through all the various levels of the picture with the tree as the central foreground axis. And thus, at a stroke the oak tree takes on the role of mediator between heaven and earth, between the transcendental and the mundane. As an image of nature, it embodies natural strength and the life force, while at the same time the with-ered branches point to a life beyond this one.”⁣

🏛 (Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)⁣

 Caspar David Friedrich⁣ Solitary Tree⁣ 1822⁣ “In 1822 the

“In his representation of a remote, holy place, Friedrich subjects nature to rigorous symmetry, intimating that he pursues an approach beyond any reproduction of nature faithful to reality. Using many layers of symbols, Friedrich fuses nature and religion to form a unity that can be read as the difficult path to Christian redemption or to ideal Christianity given the stony, thorny foreground and the way the atmosphere brightens in the background. The composition culminates in a Neo-Gothic church as the epitome of transcendence. Moreover, the arrangement of the fir trees brings to mind Romanticism’s comparison of Gothic architecture and vegetable shapes. The Gothic was also associated with the sense of German nationhood. While still alive, Friedrich found his work forgotten, but was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century, specifically in the context of fervour for the German nation. It was at this time that the painting was acquired; the Collection includes another of his Paintings, too.”⁣