The journey from Paris to Geelong
In March 1886, French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel sailed to New York with over 300 paintings, including works by Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. At the time, the Parisian establishment mocked the impressionists for their radical use of color and bold brushstrokes. Durand-Ruel, on the brink of financial ruin, was one of their few champions. Their last hope was to find new collectors abroad. His bet paid off: in the US, the impressionists found their first receptive public, rescuing them from obscurity and turning impressionism into a global phenomenon.
Now, more than 70 paintings that passed through Durand-Ruel's hands have made another cross-continental journey—this time to Geelong, a port city on Australia's southern coast. The exhibition, Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel, art dealer among artists, is on display at the Geelong Gallery. It features works by Monet, Renoir, Berthe Morisot, and Camille Pissarro, alongside pieces by lesser-known impressionists championed by Durand-Ruel, such as Albert André, Georges d'Espagnat, Gustave Loiseau, Maxime Maufra, and Henry Moret.
What we know about the exhibition
The show is the most ambitious in the Geelong Gallery's 130-year history. It was produced in partnership with Art Exhibitions Australia and the agency ACPA – Advising Curating Producing Art, led by art historian Marianne Mathieu, a global authority on impressionism. Almost all the paintings are on loan from private collections, mostly from Europe, making them rarely publicly exhibited anywhere in the world.
Claire Durand-Ruel, the dealer's great-great-granddaughter, co-curated the exhibition with Mathieu. Claire studied archival records detailing how her ancestor shipped paintings to America and Russia in the 19th century. “He wanted to go as far as he could, to send the works as far as he could, all of his life,” she says. “That was the policy of the Durand-Ruel Gallery. You cannot bring the people to your gallery, that's difficult, so the works have to move to the people.”
Durand-Ruel's role as a champion of impressionists
Durand-Ruel was more than a dealer; he was a father figure, confidant, friend, and banker to the artists. At times, he single-handedly kept them employed by buying their paintings when no one else would, nearly bankrupting himself twice. Monet is recorded as saying: “Without Durand, we would have died of hunger, all of us impressionists. We owe him everything.” Monet used a loan from Durand-Ruel to buy his property at Giverny, where he lived for more than 40 years, painting water lilies and other garden scenes.
The exhibition also highlights a second wave of lesser-known impressionists that Mathieu believes have been neglected by art historians because their careers lacked the dramatic rupture from the establishment that defined their forerunners. “We want to put this generation at the level they deserve,” she says. Claire gestures to a large oil-on-canvas by André depicting a nude woman flanked by peacocks, saying, “It is incredibly beautiful. That's what [Durand-Ruel] saw. These works deserve to be exhibited now because of both the quality of the art and the opportunity to educate people about other artists. He believed in them totally.”
Public impact: bringing art to new audiences
The exhibition continues Durand-Ruel's mission to bring art to people who cannot travel to major galleries. Claire notes that it would have been “no surprise” to her ancestor that the paintings have reached regional Australia. By displaying rarely seen works from private collections, the show offers a unique opportunity for visitors to experience impressionist masterpieces and discover overlooked artists. The Geelong Gallery's ambitious undertaking demonstrates how regional institutions can host world-class exhibitions, making art accessible to broader audiences.
What comes next in the exhibition's journey
The exhibition is currently on display at the Geelong Gallery, but its future plans have not been announced. Given Durand-Ruel's legacy of sending works as far as possible, it is possible that the collection may travel to other venues. For now, the show serves as a tribute to the dealer's pioneering vision and a chance for new generations to appreciate the impressionists and their contemporaries.
Report based on information from The Guardian.
