The second of the new works is by Degas, “which is a painting showing Degas’ father listening to a guitarist and is a reflection of the kind of intimate, musical soirees that these artists often held or attended each week”, says Wallace.

Rounding out the trio is a painting by Jean-Francois Raffaelli, who, Wallace says, was “very popular [and] also critically acclaimed, but I think fell out of favour faster with with with fashion in art because he was more of a realist painter.”

It’s because the works are so familiar and so well known that it is worth seeing them in person, Wallace emphasises – it’s easy to forget that at the start, the Impressionists were outsiders and their work was controversial.

“A lot of the aesthetic is not finished and polished in the way people might imagine when they see reproductions,” she says. “The actual encounter with the works, I think, reminds you of why this was a refreshingly new way of painting.”

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“They may be now considered to be the establishment, but it’s a very liberal establishment,” says Gott. “I think that’s why Impressionism remains perpetually popular, and it never goes out of date – because it just screams freedom of expression and liberty.”

French Impressionism will be at NGV International from June 6 to October 4, 2025

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