Story of Art Lecture Series: The Power of Light: Impressionism
Description
As we continue our journey through The Story of Art, Bassam Freiha Art Foundation is pleased to invite you to the next lecture in our monthly series, led by Dr. Michaela Watrelot, Curator and Director of Exhibitions at BFAF.
This month’s lecture, titled Impressionism: The Power of Light, focuses on one of the most transformative movements in modern art. Emerging in late nineteenth century France, Impressionism challenged academic conventions and reshaped the way artists approached painting. Instead of historical or mythological themes, painters turned to scenes from contemporary life and sought to capture the shifting effects of natural light.
Through the works of Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro, the lecture will explore how artists worked outdoors and experimented with new techniques to convey atmosphere and movement. We will consider how this shift marked a decisive break from academic tradition and opened the way for modern art.
Speaker
Dr. Michaela Watrelot
Dr. Michaela Watrelot is a curator, educator, and author with a PhD in History of Art from Charles University in Prague. At Bassam Freiha Art Foundation, she leads exhibition planning, education, and strategic partnerships. Her expertise spans 19th- and 20th-century art, public art commissions, and art market studies, and she is the author of Wilhelm von Bode and the American Art Market: The Rudolphe Kann Collection (Routledge, 2023).