Oct. 5 through Jan. 25, 2026 — Impressionist Revolution from Monet to Matisse at Santa Barbara Museum of Art

The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse from the Dallas Museum of Art is told entirely through the Dallas Museum of Art’s exceptional holdings. The Impressionists broke with tradition in both how and what they painted, redefining what then constituted cutting-edge contemporary art. The unique innovations of its core members, such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Berthe Morisot, set the foundation against which following generations of avant-garde artists reacted, from Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh to Piet Mondrian and Henri Matisse. Organized on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition, The Impressionist Revolution invites visitors to reconsider these now beloved artists as the scandalous renegades they at one time were, as well as the considerable impact they had on 20th-century art. This major exhibition has been curated by Nicole R. Myers, Ph.D., Chief Curatorial and Research officer, The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art, Dallas Museum of Art. The presentation in Santa Barbara is coordinated by James Glisson, Ph.D., Chief Curator, Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Having opened at the DMA in Dallas, Texas in February 2024, the exhibition is currently on view in Mexico City at the Palace of Fine Arts (through July 2025). The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is the only venue in the Western U.S. The exhibition catalogue is published by the Dallas Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press.

Encore: 19th-Century French Art at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art features extraordinary paintings, photographs, sculpture and works on paper, including artists Monet, Matisse, Manet, Caillebotte, Signac, Morisot, Sisley, and Boudin. This unprecedented exhibition expands on The Impressionist Revolution in the adjacent galleries while telling its own captivating tale of the depth and richness of the SBMA’s impressive holdings in French art. Encore presents fascinating portraits by the preeminent Parisian photographer-impresario Nadar (whose Paris studio hosted the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874) of the artistic and literary circles who made Paris their scintillating home; how the grand iconic buildings of Notre Dame and the Paris Opera can be seen as old and new symbols for the cultural, social, and political forces that Paris faced within a volatile France and Europe during a century of wars and revolutions; and how photographers and painters perceptively depicted Paris and the French countryside in intriguingly similar ways. Drawn entirely from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s superb collection, Encore shows the quality and range of SBMA’s 19th-century French art, including a rare opportunity to view all four of its magnificent Monet landscape paintings in one exhibition. Encore was curated by Charles Wylie, former SBMA Curator of Photography and New Media.

A full slate of public programs, conversations, and performances will be presented during the run of the exhibitions. And a range of educational activities, school tours, group tours and community partnerships are in the planning stages.

Sunday, October 5, 12-1:30pm

A special lecture from Dr. Nicole R. Myers, the Chief Curatorial and Research Officer and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. Myers was the curator of The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse from the Dallas Museum of Art, an internationally touring exhibition that invites visitors to reconsider these now beloved artists as the scandalous renegades they once were. Myers has provided an essay, “That 1870s Show,” referencing the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 for the exhibition’s elegantly illustrated catalogue. She traces the foundations of this rebellious moment in art history while also shedding light on the Dallas Museum of Art’s unique collecting history.

Opens Saturday, October 25

As part of a community wide call for artists, SBMA teaching artist, Jason Summers, working with staff and materials at the SB Botanic Garden, will create a “casita” on the garden’s campus. This interactive nature playhouse will be inspired by the works of Claude Monet featured in The Impressionist Revolution and Encore. Monet’s love for gardens and the natural world will be emphasized in the information included on a take-home coloring page available inside the casita. The sheet will invite garden visitors to come to the Museum after experiencing this family-friendly interactive structure.

Friday, November 7, 4-6 pm

Enjoy time exploring the galleries then go “underground” in best revolutionary style to the SBMA Art Learning Lab, transformed for the evening into a bespoke bohemian boîte. Sample wines selected by Renegade wines and paired with works in the exhibition as you enjoy bistro inspired bites provided by Black Sheep. Sommelier and chanteuse Kristen Lee Sargeant, accompanied on piano, adds to the creative conviviality performing three original compositions in conversation with works of art. Who can rebel while sipping Rose? We say, Encore!

Saturday, November 8 1-4 pm

Artists of all levels are invited to paint en plein air in the gardens inspired by works currently on view in The Impressionist Revolution and Encore. Museum Teaching Artist Nicola Ghersen will lead an inspiring afternoon of exploring the painting techniques and rebellious spirit of these radical visionary artists. This program is a collaboration between the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Lotusland.

Sunday, November 16, 2:30, 3:15 pm, and 4pm

Young musicians selected by SB Symphony’s master pianist Natasha Kislenko, will perform music by Debussy, Ravel, Faure and others in the museum galleries. Enjoy three performances responding to three works of art.

Sunday, January 18, 2:30 pm

In an afternoon of reading and conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winner Sebastian Smee, art critic for The Washington Post, shares with us his fresh look at the “origin story” and the tragic time which he argues, led to the “Impressionist Revolution.” His much lauded and at times hotly

debated premise, told with both knowledge and panache, is at the center of Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism.

Smee posits that from the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the “Terrible Year” by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans. It was against the backdrop of these tumultuous times that the Impressionist movement was born?in response to violence, civil war, and political intrigue. He suggests that in the aftermath of crisis, this small group of painters developed a newfound sense of the fragility of life. That feeling for transience, reflected in Impressionism’s emphasis on fugitive light, shifting seasons, glimpsed street scenes, and the impermanence of all things, became the movement’s great contribution to the history of art.

Ticketing:

Admission to the exhibition will have an additional fee and timed tickets will be sold in advance starting in summer of 2025. SBMA Members will receive priority access in advance of public ticket availability. More details to come at sbma.net.

Public docent tours as well as special request tours for groups will be offered throughout the run of the exhibition. Details to come.

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is one of the finest museums on the West coast and is celebrated for the superb quality of its permanent collection. Its mission is to integrate art into the lives of people through internationally recognized exhibitions and special programs, as well as the thoughtful presentation of its permanent collection.