Old Church at Giverny

Theodore Robinson, born Irasburg, VT 1852-died New York City 1896 · 1891

Old Church at Giverny was painted in the summer of 1891 and depicts the west elevation and conical tower of the Church of Sainte Radegonde in the French village of Giverny, located fifty miles from Paris on the River Seine. In the late nineteenth century, France was an international center of artistic training and production and was a popular destination for American painters and collectors. Typically, American artists would settle in Paris but also make regular excursions into the French countryside, where they could paint outdoors. Theodore Robinson was among a group of American painters who began to visit Giverny, where the French impressionist painter Claude Monet had settled in 1883. Robinson's friendship with Monet greatly influenced his technique in this period and manifested itself most significantly in the loose brushstrokes that indicate color and light. The paintings made by Robinson at Giverny are notable for the absence of the modernity that was sweeping French cities and towns, and appear to emphasize Giverny as a place where man and nature can still live in harmony.