Pierre-Auguste Renoir | The Wave / L'Onda, 1882

Each summer between 1879 and 1882 Pierre-Auguste Renoir traveled to Wargemont near Dieppe on the Normandy coast to visit his friend and patron Paul Bérard.

Renoir and Bérard, a banker and French diplomat, had met in 1878, when the artist was still struggling to find collectors for his Impressionist canvases.

Renoir and Bérard quickly formed a bond, leading to numerous commissioned portraits of the financier’s children and affording the artist a comfortable place to go for the summer well removed from the oppressive heat of Paris.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | The Wave, 1882 | Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, United States

Gustave Caillebotte at the Museum Barberini

Gustave Caillebotte | Couple on a Walk, 1881 | Museum Barberini

In the 1860s the seaside resorts in Normandy became the most popular summer retreats of the Parisian bourgeoisie. Here a young couple (likely the artist and his partner, Charlotte Berthier) are strolling past the luxurious Villa italiennein Trouville.

The red parasol adds an accent to the picture, in which fresh green tones are dominant. The depiction of the figures from behind allows viewers to put themselves in the role of the vacationers.

Every summer from 1880-1884, Gustave Caillebotte spent a number of weeks in Normandy, where he sailed in regattas and painted.

During this time he produced around fifty depictions of the area surrounding Trouville, a beach resort that had grown into a favorite holiday destination of the Parisian upper classes since the mid-nineteenth century.

Sergio Cerchi, 1957 | Figures and Geometries

Italian artist Sergio Cerchi was born in Florence, where he still lives and works.

He was educated at the Art Institute d'Arte di Porta Romana and studied at the Cherubim Conservatory courses.

From childhood, Sergio Cerci was "torn" between music and the visual arts: two indivisible passions cultivated with tenacity and determination, forcing him to simultaneously attend the workshops of local artists and play in various musical groups.

He began painting at the age of 15, trying different techniques and approaches before his personal style matured.

Isaac Snowman | Genre painter

Isaac Snowman (1873-1947) was an Anglo-Jewish artist who made Jewish cultural themes his subject.

Early life

He was educated at the City of London School. In 1890 he entered the Royal Academy School, where he gained a free medal, and afterward a scholarship in the Institution of British Artists.

He showed his interest in Jewish matters by his drawings A Difficult Passage in the Talmud and The Blessing of Sabbath Lights, as well as by his Early Morning Prayer in the Synagogue.

Raphaël Collin | Symbolist painter

Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin (17 June 1850 - 21 October 1916) was a French painter born and raised in Paris, where he became a prominent academic painter and a teacher.

He is principally known for the links he created between French and Japanese art, in both painting and ceramics.

Collin studied at the school of Saint-Louis, then went to Verdun where he was at school with Jules Bastien-Lepage; they became close friends.

Collin then went to Paris and studied in the atelier of Bouguereau and then joined Lepage at Alexandre Cabanel's atelier where they both worked alongside Fernand Cormon, Aimé Morot and Benjamin Constant.