Pescara Museum hosts Barbizon School exhibition

The Museo dell’Ottocento Fondazione Di Persio-Pallotta in Pescara has inaugurated an exhibition titled “La Scuola di Barbizon: le radici dell’Impressionismo” (The Barbizon School: the roots of Impressionism). The exhibition, which is scheduled to run until January 9, 2027, features 120 works resulting from approximately forty years of research and collecting by Venceslao Di Persio and Rosanna Pallotta.

The collection explores the Barbizon School, a movement that emerged in France during the 1830s near the Fontainebleau forest. Artists such as Théodore Rousseau, Jules Dupré, Constant Troyon, Charles-François Daubigny, Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña, and Rosa Bonheur moved away from traditional academic models to practice en plein air painting. By focusing on direct observation of nature, light, and seasonal changes, these artists laid the technical and conceptual foundations for the Impressionist movement.

Featured works include “Contadina al lavoro al calar della sera” by Raymond Eugène Goethals, “Les muletiers” by Rosa Bonheur, and “Les bords de la Loue” by Gustave Courbet. The exhibition also examines the relationship between the Barbizon School and 19th-century Italian painting.