Cologne - The Wallraf Richartz Museum - The Impressionist collection (Part 2) - The 21st of June 2019

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Walking around those rooms was like being in my own element. There is definitely nothing like Art to "feed" my soul and the more I admired some of the Impressionists' paintings the more I felt taken by them and wondering the shocking impact they must have had in the past.

 

 

 

Landscape in the West of Aix-en-Provence (left) and Still life with pears (right) by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906).

 

 

Both paintings seem to represent a condensation of everything that we associate with the great master as the founder of Modernism. The veritable dis-section into geometric shapes, of which we have a hint here, is a phenomenon that points ahead to Cubism.

 

 

 

Springtime near Vétheil by Claude Monet (1840-1926)

 

 

 

 

The Seine near Courbevoie by Paul Signac (1863-1935)

 

 

 

 

 

Orcharch in Pontoise at sunset by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)

 

 

 

 

 

Morning sun in Autumn (left) and Harbour of Saint-Tropez in the sunlight by Francis Picabia (1879-1953)

Upon leaving the Museum we still made it to another room in a lower floor, where we came upon a magnificent paiting by Peter Paul Rubens.

 

 

 

Juno and Argus by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Rubens used a bloodthirsty tale from Ovid's the Metamorphoses to glorify the sight and the sensuous power of painting.

 

 

 

 

I feel that this Museum should be visited more than once given the huge collection, of which we just saw a part. Every moment spent in its rooms was worth it and we vowed to one day come back.