The Impressionists: Monet, Morisot, Renoir, and Their Network

How did a small group of radical painters become the most popular art movement of modern times? Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and their fellow Impressionists not only changed the way people saw light and color—they also created a network of friends, patrons, and collectors that carried their works around the world. Writers such as Émile Zola and Octave Mirbeau supported them with influential reviews. New groups of buyers were drawn to this revolutionary approach to painting. Some, like department store owner Ernest Hoschedé and opera singer Jean-Baptiste Faure, began collecting Impressionist…