When French Impressionism crosses the Channel
This room brings together French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from the 1870s-1890s alongside works by British painters of the following generation, notably Walter Sickert — a pupil of Whistler and an admirer of Degas, who long served as the link between the two art scenes.
1. Van Gogh discovers Paris and Impressionism
The Restaurant de la Sirène at Asnières, painted by Vincent van Gogh in spring 1887, shows a modest restaurant on the banks of the Seine, in a suburb favored by the Impressionist painters. The short, choppy brushwork and brightened palette mark the turn Van Gogh had just made since arriving in Paris a year earlier: directly influenced by the Impressionists he was then discovering, he abandoned the dark tones of his Dutch period.
2. Five versions of the same couple, and a Virginia Woolf essay
Ennui is the last of at least five versions Walter Sickert painted on the same theme: a man smokes a cigar, indifferent, while a woman seated beside him stares blankly at a case of stuffed birds. The models for the very first version, exhibited in 1914, were Hubby, an old schoolfriend of Sickert's who had fallen on hard times and whom the painter long supported, and Marie Hayes, who modeled for him on several occasions. The version held at the Ashmolean, considered by several critics to be the finest of the series, replaces the bare walls of the original with patterned wallpaper and brighter colors.
In 1934, the writer Virginia Woolf published an essay, "Walter Sickert: A Conversation," partly inspired by this painting: in it she invents a whole backstory to explain the heavy silence between the two figures, praising Sickert as a painter who tells stories without ever needing words.
How much time
Look for the woman's blank stare, turned toward the case of stuffed birds — it is the detail that fascinated Virginia Woolf most.
- The Restaurant de la Sirène at Asnières (Van Gogh) — 6 minutes.
- Ennui (Sickert) — 8 minutes.
Sources and verification
Checked against the official notices of the Ashmolean Museum (ashmolean.org) and cross-checked with Wikipedia EN/FR.
- Ashmolean Museum — Ennui
- Wikipedia EN — Ennui (Sickert)
- Tate — Walter Richard Sickert, 'Ennui' c.1914
- Art UK — Restaurant de la Sirène, Asnières
Displays and room openings can change. Check the Ashmolean Museum website on the day of your visit before following a route.
Listen to the commentary in the gallery
This route gives you a thread to follow. In front of an artwork, CulturAll adds the audio commentary: photograph the work or its label, listen, then ask your questions.
