OLLI Impressionism: The Other French Revolution

Renée Farrington’s Impressionism course ran for two sessions in the Spring 2026 term of OLLI@CSUMB. Below is the description of the course, the slides/recordings of the sessions, and supplementary videos. If you’d like to start a conversation with Renée, feel free to contact her.

OLLI @ CSUMB provides a dynamic community for those aged 50 and better living in the Monterey Bay Peninsula (and beyond to those with access to Zoom) in many fields including (but not limited to) science, history, music, and art. For more information about OLLI@CSUMB, please see the OLLI website (Link Here).

Description:

We begin in Paris in the 1870s, meeting maverick young French Impressionists like Monet, Degas and Renoir. In the second session, we explore Post-Impressionism, led by Cézanne, Gauguin and van Gogh. Participants will get an up-close-and-personal peek at the artists' lives and loves during changing, often chaotic times. As we examine their masterful paintings, we'll see how these painters influenced each other and how their groundbreaking work helped usher in the modern era in art. At the center of each session will be a lively slideshow accompanied by insightful videos.

Session 1

To view the slides, click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2.

Renée Art Talk - Impressionism

Question from the Zoom chat: I appreciate your highlighting Caillebotte, & would love to know where the works you showed are exhibited?

Renée Response: Here are some of Caillebotte’s Major Works and where they can be viewed. 

• Paris Street; Rainy Day (Rue de Paris; temps de pluie) (1877): Art Institute of Chicago.

• The Floor Scrapers (Les Raboteurs de parquet) (1875): Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

• Le Pont de l'Europe (The Europe Bridge) (1876-1877): Musée du Petit Palais, Paris.

• On the Pont de l'Europe (1876-1877): Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX.

• Young Man at His Window (Jeune homme à sa fenêtre) (1875): J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

• The Orange Trees (Les Orangers) (1878): Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

• Boating Party (Partie de bateau) (c. 1877-1878): Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

• The Yerres, Rain (L'Yerres, pluie) (1875): Indiana University Art Museum.

• Portraits in the Countryside (Portraits à la campagne) (1876): Musée Baron Gérard, Bayeux, France.

• Man on a Balcony, Boulevard Haussmann (1880): Private Collection.

• Sailing Boats at Argenteuil (Voiliers à Argenteuil) (c. 1888): Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Supplementary Videos

Caillebotte Painting Men and His World

Degas Life and Works

Mary Cassatt and Motherhood

To view slides, click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

Renée Art Talk - Post Impressionism

Thanks to our distinguished participant, Malcolm Weintraub, we have a connection to van Gogh from someone who was actually a model for one of Wayne Thiebaud’s paintings. 

Malcolm said that  the van Gogh painting Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate)  reminds him of Man Reading painted in 1963.  He said, "Charles Myers who sat for that painting (shortly before Wayne's painting of me Man in Blue Chair) was an English professor at Sacramento City College and also a winemaker.  

Vincent van Gogh: Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) [left]

Wayne Thiebaud: Man Reading [middle] and Man in a Blue Chair (model Malcolm Weintraub) [right]

Malcolm’s wonderful late wife Judith, our much-missed OLLI colleague and friend, also sat for Thiebaud. About  the painting Five Seated Figures (1965) Malcolm said.”The people are Judith front left, her friend Grace McClatchy right, and the three guys in the back, from l to r — .David Dangelo, Tony Berlant, Pat Dullanty, all young painters in Sacramento.  At the time, Judith had recently given birth to son Anthony and left the posing every so often to drive home and nurse him.  That painting was later in a show at Aquavella in NYC, we were visiting there at the time and I also have a photo of Judith standing in front of the painting."

Supplementary Videos

Toulouse-Lautrec Moulin Rouge