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# VMFA brings Impressionist greats to a season of blockbuster museum openings
- URL: https://www.richmonder.org/vmfa-brings-impressionist-greats-to-a-season-of-blockbuster-museum-openings/
- Published: 2026-11-12T19:53:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-12T19:53:38.000Z
- Description: The exhibit's title promises a revolution, one it follows to completion.
- Author: Michael Phillips
- Tags: Local News, #the-bridge

In case you haven't heard, you'll likely be going to a museum this winter.

Like cicadas emerging from their burrows, Richmond's museums have entered a cycle of crowd-pleasing exhibitions that are sure to do big numbers during the holiday break.

At the pinked-out Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Barbie is taking center stage. Down the road at the Science Museum of Virginia, the newest permanent exhibition explores outer space, a perennial favorite.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts upped the ante Thursday with its most recent offering, "The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse from the Dallas Museum of Art."

The exhibit's first room is reminiscent of the opening minutes of an action movie, with star power everywhere you turn. Monet, Manet, Degas, Pissarro, Cezanne and Renoir lead off, and the pace doesn't slow from there.

Fans of popular art will get what they came for, but like "[Barbie: A Cultural Icon](https://www.richmonder.org/history-in-pink-barbie-exhibit-arrives-at-vmhc/)," those who come to learn will also leave satisfied.

The exhibit's lead curator, Nicole Myers of the Dallas Museum of Art, encourages visitors to put themselves in the shoes of 19th century Parisians, who were shocked and a little scandalized by the Impressionists.

"There is the assumption that, oh, the crowd went wild and everybody loved it, and that's why we still display and collect it and put it on Mother's Day postcards," Myers said. "But that could not be further from the truth."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/11/IMG_1856.jpeg)

Works from the Dallas Museum of Art are supplemented by pieces from the VMFA's own Mellon Collection.

The exhibit's title promises a revolution, one it follows to completion.

It also shows what the Impressionists started, with a nod to pointillism, a movement that was initially rejected by Monet and others in his group. It's an opportunity to soak in the moment where pop culture stopped walking and started running.

The signature room, near the end of "The Impressionist Revolution," showcases three of Claude Monet's "Water Lilies."

Monet, who lived to 86, started as a starving artist but lived long enough to see his ideas accepted. There are about 250 paintings in the "Water Lilies" series, which gave him financial security and an expansive garden at his estate in Giverny, France.

In that sense, Monet laid the groundwork for Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol, who pushed the boundaries only to find popular acclaim on the other side.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/11/IMG_1890.jpeg)

Aleisha Wilhite examines the artworks during the opening day of "The Impressionist Revolution."

The exhibit has other treats as well, including a collection of works by Berthe Morisot, a female Impressionist. The plaque accompanying one of her works notes that she rented a boat to paint on, "to escape the jeers of onlookers who had never seen a female artist at work."

Visitors are also invited to bring headsets and scan QR codes throughout the exhibit, which pair with innovative music from the same time period.

Tickets to "The Impressionist Revolution" are $20 for adults and $10 for youth. The exhibit will be open until April 4, 2027, and the museum's Floris tea room is offering a tea service designed to complement the exhibit.

*Contact Michael Phillips at* [*mphillips@richmonder.org*](mailto:mphillips@richmonder.org)*.*