Masterpieces of Impressionism

A History of European Art is your gateway to this visually stunning story. In 48 beautifully illustrated lectures you will encounter all the landmarks you would expect to find in a comprehensive survey of Western art since the Middle Ages. Works such as Giotto's Arena Chapel, Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece, Leonardo's The Last Supper, Michelangelo's David, Vermeer's View of Delft, Van Gogh's The Starry Night, Picasso's Guernica, and hundreds more. You will also find works that are completely new to you. Plus you'll be introduced to lesser-known artists—perhaps names you've heard but never connected to specific works—and you'll understand why they deserve to be classed among the great masters.

The development of the arts in Europe from the Middle Ages to the modern era is an astonishing record of cultural achievement, from the breathtaking architecture of Gothic cathedrals to the daring visual experiments of the Cubist painters.

Where else can you find masterpieces extending from the dawn of civilization to today; or encyclopedic holdings from all the major cultures on earth; or genres ranging from paintings to period rooms, sculpture to suits of armor, metalwork to musical instruments—all situated in a palatial building beside one of the world's most magnificent parks?

As soon as the Musees Nationaux de France began to organize this exhibition, it became evident that it would be difficult to carry through such an enterprise satisfactorily without the help of an associate in the United States, where so many masterpieces of the Impressionist school are to be found. The choice of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was the result not only of the size and quality of its collection of Impressionist works but also — and perhaps more importantly — of the close and friendly relations that have long existed between the Metropolitan and the Reunion des Musees Nationaux de France, especially the Louvre…