Eugene Boudin (1824-1898) is rightly considered one of the forerunners of French Impressionism, and his influence was quite direct. As Claude Monet's first teacher, he persuaded the teenager to paint en plein air. Read an excerpt of Joseph Skrapits' article on this important artist here, and read the complete article in the May, 2013 digital edition of PleinAir magazine.

The Portland, ME Museum of Art will be presenting several summer exhibitions of interest to plein air painters. One features the work of Mildred Burrage (1890-1983) from April 21 - July 15, 2012; a second presents a private collection of paintings of the Normandy region in France (June 14 - September 3, 2012); a third highlights the relationship between Winslow Homer and The Portland Society of Art (July 28, 2012 - January 13, 2012); and a fourth show is titled “Maine Sublime: Frederick Edwin Church’s Landscapes of Mount Desert and Mount Katahdin (June 30 - September 30, 2012).

From May 19 to October 21, 2012, The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) will present an exhibit titled “Monet’s Garden” that will include two original paintings by Claude Monet as well as films, concerts, poetry readings, and hands-on children’s programs related to the famed Impressionist artist. Photographs by Elizabeth Murray documenting Monet’s garden in Giverny, France over the past 25 years will also be on view in the Bronx borough of New York City.

Twelve major paintings by Claude Monet (1840-1926) are on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum (February 4-May 12, 2012) in a show titled “Monet in Giverny: Landscapes of Reflection.” Monet retreated to Giverny, the small village northwest of Paris, in 1883, and then spent the next 43 years there experimenting with landscape and garden painting. The works of art he painted there are among the most recognizable in Western Art.

Next spring, the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine will present an exhibition of 70 paintings by Mildred Burrage, a remarkable woman who studied in Europe, created plein air oil paintings and filled sketchbooks while in France, met Claude Monet and Gertrude Stein, and returned to Maine to spearhead numerous preservation projects, including the establishment of the Lincoln County Cultural and Historical Association.