Frist Art Museum To Present THE IMPRESSIONIST REVOLUTION: MONET TO MATISSE

The Frist Art Museum will present THE IMPRESSIONIST REVOLUTION: MONET TO MATISSE FROM THE DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART, an exhibition examining the emergence of Impressionism and its influence on early 20th-century modern art. Organized by the Dallas Museum of Art, the exhibition will be on view in the Frist’s Upper-Level Galleries from February 26 through May 31, 2026.

Featuring nearly 50 paintings and sculptures, the exhibition traces the movement from its origins in 1874 through its lasting impact on later generations of artists. Works by figures including Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Piet Mondrian, and Henri Matisse illustrate how the Impressionists’ break with academic tradition reshaped artistic practice.

The exhibition focuses on the independent collective that became known as the Impressionists, whose members rejected established conventions in subject matter, technique, and exhibition models. Core artists such as Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley helped establish new approaches to painting that influenced generations of avant-garde artists. Presented shortly after the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris, the exhibition reexamines artists once viewed as radical outsiders and considers their role in shaping modern art.

In the exhibition catalogue, Dr. Nicole Myers, Chief Curatorial and Research Officer and Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, writes that Impressionism was not a single, unified style, but rather a shared effort among artists to represent contemporary life through new approaches to subject and form.

An opening-night conversation connected to the exhibition will take place on Thursday, February 26, at 6:30 p.m. in the Frist Art Museum auditorium. The program will feature Dr. Nicole Myers and Mark Scala, Chief Curator at the Frist Art Museum, in discussion about the exhibition. A live musical performance will precede the conversation in the Upper-Level Galleries from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m., and the museum will remain open until 9:00 p.m. Admission to the program will be free for members and $20 for non-members, with registration required.