Floor plan

Time and place19th-century France

19th-century France

Symbolic Head, by Odilon Redon, c. 1890
A young, pale-skinned woman sits with her back to us as she looks at a painting on an easel in a studio in this vertical painting. She sits in a ladder-back wood chair so her knees angle away from us, toward the back right corner of the studio. We look onto the side of her right cheek as she leans forward. Her brown hair is combed back and twisted into a bun wrapped with a raspberry-red ribbon that trails down her back. Touches of pearl white, pale pink, and silvery gray suggest flowers by the ear we can see. A cream-white chemise falls off the shoulder closer to us, under a grass-green bodice. She holds a mandolin down by her right side, which is closer to us, to nestle in the folds of her voluminous, olive-green skirt. She reaches forward with her other hand to touch the lower left corner of the painting resting on the easel. That vertically-oriented scene is loosely painted and shows a few people gathered in a landscape. A white and black dog stands with one front leg lifted to the left of the woman's chair, looking at her. The wall opposite us is parchment white over a strip of molding, like a high chair rail, and muted mauve pink below. An L-shaped pipe leads to an iron stove to our left of center. A narrow shelf tucked into the L of the pipe holds three hand-sized sculptures or casts. Small paintings and plaster casts hang around it on the wall above the molding. The artist signed the painting in the lower right: “COROT.”
A work made of oil on canvas.
Landscape, by Edgar Degas, 1892
The image shows two women walking arm in arm, both in traditional attire. One woman is facing away with a slight profile, while the other is seen from the side. Their faces are stylized and simplistic with covered hair. They wear long dresses with aprons and collars, and one has a striped apron. Haystacks and greenery surround them. Faint figures are in the background, as well as a spire-like structure. A dog is seen near the haystack, with simple lines suggesting a landscape.
Painted in muted lime green, plum purple, buttercup yellow, slate and royal blue, the head and shoulders of a man with peach-colored skin sitting in front of a window looks at us in this stylized, vertical portrait. His body and face are angled to our right but he looks at us from the corners of his eyes, which are grass-green with touches of yellow. One cobalt-blue eyebrow is cocked, and shading in denim blue, butter yellow, and fern green create hollows under both eyes. His flat nose has a broad bridge, and his pale pink lips are closed, the far corner pulled slightly up. His mustache is painted with visible strokes of forest green and his ginger-orange beard is trimmed along his prominent, jutting chin. His short, dark hair is brushed back from his temples and is painted with strokes of pine green, navy blue, and coral orange. His shirt has a wide, golden yellow stripe along the collar above indigo blue, under a grayish-violet purple jacket. The wall over his shoulder, in the upper left corner, is painted vivid lime green with long, vertical brushstrokes. The view through the window beyond his other shoulder is of vegetation and mountains. The portrait is painted with visible brushstrokes throughout, and is especially loose in the background, hair, and jacket. An inscription in dark green script in the upper left reads, “a l'ami Carriere PGauguin.” A second inscription in the lower left is written with dark brown paint: “l'ami Laval PGo.”
The image shows a sparse drawing of a landscape. A tree with elongated branches is on the left side, with a twist in its trunk. Near the horizon, there are several sailing boats on calm water. The composition suggests a vast openness and distance. The sketching is subtle and precise, focusing on gentle contouring and minimal detail. The color palette is monochromatic, dominated by a muted brown tone. The overall impact is serene and understated, inviting the viewer to focus on the hints of narrative within the scene.
Monsieur Boileau at the Café, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Works made in France in the 19th century.

First room, north wall

  1. Symbolic Head, by Odilon Redon, c. 1890
    Symbolic HeadOdilon Redon, c. 1890Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. A young, pale-skinned woman sits with her back to us as she looks at a painting on an easel in a studio in this vertical painting. She sits in a ladder-back wood chair so her knees angle away from us, toward the back right corner of the studio. We look onto the side of her right cheek as she leans forward. Her brown hair is combed back and twisted into a bun wrapped with a raspberry-red ribbon that trails down her back. Touches of pearl white, pale pink, and silvery gray suggest flowers by the ear we can see. A cream-white chemise falls off the shoulder closer to us, under a grass-green bodice. She holds a mandolin down by her right side, which is closer to us, to nestle in the folds of her voluminous, olive-green skirt. She reaches forward with her other hand to touch the lower left corner of the painting resting on the easel. That vertically-oriented scene is loosely painted and shows a few people gathered in a landscape. A white and black dog stands with one front leg lifted to the left of the woman's chair, looking at her. The wall opposite us is parchment white over a strip of molding, like a high chair rail, and muted mauve pink below. An L-shaped pipe leads to an iron stove to our left of center. A narrow shelf tucked into the L of the pipe holds three hand-sized sculptures or casts. Small paintings and plaster casts hang around it on the wall above the molding. The artist signed the painting in the lower right: “COROT.”
    Corot's Studio: Woman Seated Before an Easel, a Mandolin in her HandJean Baptiste Camille Corot, c. 1868Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, SnowCamille Pissarro, 1879Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Landscape, by Edgar Degas, 1892
    LandscapeEdgar Degas, 1892Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

First room, south wall

  1. The image shows two women walking arm in arm, both in traditional attire. One woman is facing away with a slight profile, while the other is seen from the side. Their faces are stylized and simplistic with covered hair. They wear long dresses with aprons and collars, and one has a striped apron. Haystacks and greenery surround them. Faint figures are in the background, as well as a spire-like structure. A dog is seen near the haystack, with simple lines suggesting a landscape.
    Pleasures of Brittany (Joies de Bretagne)Paul Gauguin, 1889Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Painted in muted lime green, plum purple, buttercup yellow, slate and royal blue, the head and shoulders of a man with peach-colored skin sitting in front of a window looks at us in this stylized, vertical portrait. His body and face are angled to our right but he looks at us from the corners of his eyes, which are grass-green with touches of yellow. One cobalt-blue eyebrow is cocked, and shading in denim blue, butter yellow, and fern green create hollows under both eyes. His flat nose has a broad bridge, and his pale pink lips are closed, the far corner pulled slightly up. His mustache is painted with visible strokes of forest green and his ginger-orange beard is trimmed along his prominent, jutting chin. His short, dark hair is brushed back from his temples and is painted with strokes of pine green, navy blue, and coral orange. His shirt has a wide, golden yellow stripe along the collar above indigo blue, under a grayish-violet purple jacket. The wall over his shoulder, in the upper left corner, is painted vivid lime green with long, vertical brushstrokes. The view through the window beyond his other shoulder is of vegetation and mountains. The portrait is painted with visible brushstrokes throughout, and is especially loose in the background, hair, and jacket. An inscription in dark green script in the upper left reads, “a l'ami Carriere PGauguin.” A second inscription in the lower left is written with dark brown paint: “l'ami Laval PGo.”
    Self-Portrait Dedicated to CarrièrePaul Gauguin, 1888 or 1889Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. The image shows a sparse drawing of a landscape. A tree with elongated branches is on the left side, with a twist in its trunk. Near the horizon, there are several sailing boats on calm water. The composition suggests a vast openness and distance. The sketching is subtle and precise, focusing on gentle contouring and minimal detail. The color palette is monochromatic, dominated by a muted brown tone. The overall impact is serene and understated, inviting the viewer to focus on the hints of narrative within the scene.
    Arbres et Bateaux (Trees and Boats)Félix-Hilaire BuhotCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. Monsieur Boileau at the Café, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893
    Monsieur Boileau at the CaféHenri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Second room, south wall

  1. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Landscape at ChaillyFrédéric Bazille, 1865Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of lithograph from two stones on off-white wove paper.
    Interior of the Lemercier Lithographic Printing HouseCharles Villemin, n.d.Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    In the WingsJean Louis Forain, 1899Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Second room, north wall

  1. Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", by Georges Seurat, 1884
    Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte"Georges Seurat, 1884Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of oil on linen canvas.
    Woman in Front of a Still Life by CezannePaul Gauguin, 1890Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    The ConversationMarcellin Gilbert Desboutin, 1875–79Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Third room, north wall

  1. Brünnhilde in Twilight of the Gods, by Odilon Redon, 1894
    Brünnhilde in Twilight of the GodsOdilon Redon, 1894Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1888
    The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955)Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1888Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art