Shock & Awe
Auguste Roedel, Moulin de la Galette (Les Mâitres de l’Affiche) (c. 1896), color lithograph.
Written by Lorie Dewhirst Porter
The history of art is a progression of aesthetic insurrections, and Impressionism, the 19th-century art movement conceived in Paris, remains one of the most shocking visual revolutions of all time. An exciting exhibition, The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse From the Dallas Museum of Art, now on view at the SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART (SBMA), focuses on Impressionism’s rebellious origins and its extraordinary influence on the art world. The exhibition is chock-full of masterpieces from the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) by big-name artists, including Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, and Berthe Morisot. Dr. Nicole Myers, the DMA’s chief curatorial and research officer and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator, curated the exhibition and authored the companion catalogue.
SBMA is the traveling show’s only destination in the western United States, and like a gracious host welcoming an important guest, SBMA is displaying works by Monet, Matisse, Morisot, and others from its own Impressionist collection in a companion exhibit entitled Encore: 19th-Century French Art from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
The entry to the SBMA celebrates the museum’s latest show focusing on Impresssionism’s rebellious origins.
Both exhibitions are on view at SBMA through January 25, 2026, and are accompanied by a full slate of public programs, conversations, and performances, including lectures by renowned Monet expert Paul Hayes Tucker and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Sebastian Smee. 1130 State St., Santa Barbara, sbma.net
