Exhibition Brings Over 70 Impressionist Works to Geelong, Honouring the Dealer Who Championed the Movement

The exhibition 'Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel, art dealer among artists' opened at the Geelong Gallery on 20 June 2025 and runs until 11 October, featuring works by Monet, Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, and lesser-known figures including Albert André, Georges d'Espagnat, and Henry Moret. Almost all works are on loan from private European collections and are rarely publicly exhibited anywhere in the world. The show was co-curated by Claire Durand-Ruel, the dealer's great-great-granddaughter, and art historian Marianne Mathieu, and was produced in partnership with Art Exhibitions Australia and Mathieu's agency ACPA. Paul Durand-Ruel's pivotal role in the impressionist movement is a central theme: Monet famously credited him with saving the impressionists from starvation, and it was a loan from Durand-Ruel that enabled Monet to purchase his property at Giverny. Claire Durand-Ruel described her ancestor as possessing both vision and stubbornness, noting his lifelong commitment to sending art as far as possible to reach new audiences. The exhibition also seeks to rehabilitate the reputations of the second-generation impressionists Durand-Ruel championed, whom art historians have largely overlooked. Both curators expressed hope that visitors would experience the emotional and aesthetic joy the works convey.