French Impressionists, From the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Scarcely a century ago, the French Impressionists stood at the farthest outpost of advanced art. While the artists of the academic establishment followed traditions set down by the masters of the Renaissance, a small band of young painters, including Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, and Mary Cassatt, dared to experiment, to challenge, and to create a radically new art for their time.