Summer: Giverny

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Theodore Robinson, Giverny, ca. 1889, Oil on canvas 16 x 22 in.; 40.64 x 55.88 cm.. Acquired 1920.

Painted during his third summer in the village, Giverny (ca. 1889) is a prototypical example of the technique that earned Theodore Robinson his reputation in America. Using a vantage from a hillside overlooking the Seine valley, he adjusted his easel to paint several views of the rural landscape. The strong composition and strict delineation of architectural elements in Giverny hark back to Robinson’s academic training, while the bright violet-and-green palette and deft, summary treatment of the light-dappled foliage betray his exposure to impressionism. In Giverny, Robinson emphasized parallel diagonal lines that radiate to the left of the picture plane and terminate at the horizon line near the top of the canvas. Robinson executed this painting en plein-air—out of doors—capturing the immediate brilliance of the sunlight and warm colors of the country, a technique he no doubt learned from Monet.

Summer: Farm at Bear Mountain

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David Burkiuk, Farm at Bear Mountain, 1925, Oil on burlap canvas 18 1/8 x 12 7/8 in.; 46.0375 x 32.7025 cm.. Acquired 1929.

David Burliuk’s Farm at Bear Mountain (1925) is vigorously expressionistic, using color to convey Burliuk’s intense personal feelings about the landscape. Painted with rhythmic strokes, wiry lines, and strong colors, it is an ode to nature in late summer. Its predominantly saturated verdant palette is evocative of a lush summer with plenty of sun and rain. While warm highlights on the foliage and rooftops of farm buildings capture the effects of the sun, deeper greens and blues, found in the denser areas of trees, suggest the fresh, cool air of the shade. Burliuk further increases the dynamism of the painting by using a vertical format, thus denying the viewer a panoramic vista, creating a tension with the inherit nature of landscape painting.

Go Team!

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Joe Holbach, Trish Waters, Bill Koberg, and Renée Maurer in their hotel lobby where a banner for our exhibition is on display. Photo: Sue Frank

Today is the big opening for our exhibition in Daejeon, Korea, Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Master Works from The Phillips Collection. Two years in the making, this show furthers our relationship with notable museums in Asia and the citizens of those countries who have seen our works in loan and traveling exhibitions in the past. This unusually large team—chief registrar and director of special initiatives Joe Holbach, associate registrar for exhibitions Trish Waters, installations manager Bill Koberg, assistant curator Renée Maurer, and associate curator for research Sue Frank—is representative of the size and complexity of this installation. Joe reports, “Highly energetic opening tonight.” (Which technically was yesterday for them.)