Americans in Florence. Sargent and the American Impressionists

Americans in Florence. Sargent and the American Impressionists on view at Palazzo Strozzi, (Florence, Italy), until 15 July 2012, sets out to illustrate the extremely fertile and multifaceted relationship that the painters of the New World established with Florence and other cities in Tuscany between the mid 19th century and the World War I.

After the end of the American Civil War, there was a substantial increase in the number of American artists travelling to Europe, although, of course, the 18th century Grand Tour tradition had never really died. The painters' main destinations were Florence, Venice and Rome, cities which the artists idolized in their eagerness to explore their ancient monuments and to take their own measure against the art of the past. They were also attracted by the charm and variety of the landscape, so different from the countryside back home, by the light, by the evocative and atmospheric panoramic views, and by the picturesque charm of the local people.

The exhibition is divided into five sections with works by over thirty Americans artists who worked in Florence. Some, like John Singer Sargent, are famous, while the work of other less well-known artists is being shown in Italy for the first time. On returning home, they all became celebrated painters and authoritative masters who played a crucial role in forming the new generation of American painters and in forging the birth of a national school of painting. Their paintings dialogue in the sections of the exhibition with those by Florentine and Tuscan painters including Telemaco Signorini, Vittorio Corcos and Michele Gordigiani.

Date: until July 15.
Location: Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi - p.zza Strozzi 50123 Firenze. Italy.
Opening hours: from Friday to Wednesday from 9am to 8pm. Thursdays from 9am to 11pm.

See some of the images in the following slideshow: