The depth of the Museum’s collection of European art is in its holdings of 19th-century French painting, although there are a handful of fine examples of 18th-century French and British painting, mostly in the genre of portraiture. Like the rest of the permanent collection, the strengths of SBMA’s European holdings derive from those of its foundational collection, the gifts and bequest of Wright S. Ludington (1900-1992). The Museum has received additional gifts of art by Barbizon school artists Camille Corot (1796-1875) and Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867), Impressionist artists Claude Monet (1840-1926), Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), and Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)) and Post-Impressionist artists Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Odilon Redon (1840-1916), Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), and Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940), collecting areas for which it is best known. However, the quality of the collection is equally strong in classical early modernism, with important works by Georges Braque (1882-1963), Henri Matisse (1869-1954), and Raoul Dufy (1877-1953). Ludington’s interest in British Modernism also accounts for the Museum’s unusually deep holdings in this area with major works by Walter Sickert (1860-1942), Stanley Spencer (1891-1959), and Percy Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957). The quality of SBMA’s European paintings is complemented by its holdings in the medium of sculpture, reflecting another of Ludington’s abiding interests, with a chronological breadth that stretches from Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875) to Henry Moore (1898-1986) and Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973).

Works on paper complement and expand upon the painting and sculpture collections. Drawings range from the 17th to the 20th centuries, with notable strengths in French and British 19th and early 20th century work. The print collection comprises Old Masters such as Rembrandt (1606-1669), Dürer (1471-1528), and Piranesi (1720-1778), over 4,000 French satirical prints including the entire oeuvre of Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), and important works by French printmakers involved in the etching and lithography revivals of the later 19th century.

Selected works from our European collection:

click thumbnails to view larger images of selected works
click to enlarge	Jules Bastien-Lepage French, 1848-1884 The Ripened Wheat (Les Blés Murs), 1884 Oil on canvas 37 1/2 x 43” Museum purchase with funds provided by Suzette and Eugene Davidson and the Davidson Endowment Fund 1995.34	click to enlarge	Jean-Achille Benouville French, 1815-1891 Italian Landscape with Ruins and Cattle, 1868 Oil on canvas Museum purchase with funds provided by Bryant and Sons 1994.52
click to enlarge ©Artists Rights Society, Inc. (ADAGP)	Pierre Bonnard French, 1867-1947 Jardin au Petit Pont, 1937 Oil on canvas 39 x 48 7/8" Bequest of Wright S. Ludington 1993.1.1	click to enlarge	Eugene Boudin French, 1824-1898 Abbeville: Église de Saint-Vulfran, 1894 Oil on panel 18 x 14 1/2” Gift of Mrs. L. H. Kirkpatrick 1973.48
click to enlarge	Adolphe-William Bouguereau French, 1825-1905 Portrait of Mademoiselle Martha Hoskier, 1869 Oil on canvas Gift of Joanne and Andrall Pearson 2011.12	click to enlarge	Jules Breton French, 1827-1906 The Pardon, 1872 Oil on canvas 47 5/8 x 34” Gift of Kenneth W. Watters in Memory of Elizabeth Converse Strong Watters 1989.43
click to enlarge	Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux French, 1827-1875 Portrait of Gérôme, ca. 1871 Bronze Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert J. Emmons 1997.47	click to enlarge	Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse French, 1824-1887 The Three Graces, n.d. Terra-cotta 29 x 11 1/4" (diameter at top) Museum purchase with funds provided by the Collectors Council 1998.29
click to enlarge	Camille Corot French, 1796-1875 The Glacis of a Ruined Castle-Fort, 1855-1865 Oil on canvas Gift of the A.E. Clegg Family 1991.89.1	click to enlarge	Paul-Joseph-Victor Dargaud French, 1850-1921 The Statue of Liberty in Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi's Studio, Paris, 1884 Oil on canvas Museum purchase, 19th Century Endowment Funds and Suzette Davidson Art Acquisition Endowment 2001.36.2
click to enlarge ©ADAGP: Agence photographique de la Réunion des musées nationaux.	Andrè Derain French, 1880-1954 Vase of Anemones, n.d. Oil on canvas Gift of Mary and Leigh Block 1987.58.9	click to enlarge ©Artist's Rights Society (ADAGP)	Georges d'Espagnat French, 1870-1950 Banks of the Seine, Near the Bridge of Meulan, ca. 1898-1900 Oil on canvas Bequest of Katharine Dexter McCormick in memory of her husband, Stanley McCormick 1968.20.8
click to enlarge	Ernest Ange Duez French, 1843-1896 Woman in Grey on Board Ship, Gazing at the Sea, 1873 Oil on canvas 47 1/2 x 23 1/2” Museum purchase with funds provided by the Suzette and Eugene Davidson Fund	click to enlarge	Henri Fantin-Latour French, 1836-1904 Chrysanthemums of Summer (Chrysanthèmes d'été), ca. 1887 Oil on canvas 18 1/8 x 15” Gift of Mary and Leigh Block 1987.58.12
click to enlarge	Jean-Léon Gérôme French, 1824-1904 Head of Tanagra, ca. 1890 Polychromed marble Museum purchase, European Deaccessioning Fund 1993.9	click to enlarge ©Artists Rights Society	Armand Guillaumin French, 1841-1927 Banks of the Creuse, 1903 Oil on canvas Gift of Dwight and Winifred Vedder 2006.54.6
click to enlarge	Wilhelm Lehmbruck German, 1881-1919 Torso of the Pensive Woman, 1918 Painted plaster Bequest of Wright S. Ludington 1993.1.34	click to enlarge ©ADAGP: Photo Musée d'Orsay / rmn	Henri-Jean-Guillaume Martin French, 1860-1943 View of a Bastide, c. 1926 Oil on canvas Gift of Mrs. Harriet Maxwell 1981.31
click to enlarge ©Artists Rights Society, Inc. (Succession Matisse)	Henri Matisse French, 1869-1954 Pont Saint-Michel, ca. 1901 Oil on canvas 23 3/4 x 28 3/4" Bequest of Wright S. Ludington 1993.1.5	click to enlarge	Constantin Emile Meunier Belgian, 1831-1905 June, ca. 1893 Bronze on marble base Museum purchase, The Suzette and Eugene Davidson Fund 1991.126
click to enlarge	Claude Monet French, 1840-1926 Charing Cross Bridge, 1899 Oil on canvas 25 1/8 x 31 3/8” Bequest of Katharine Dexter McCormick in memory of her husband, Stanley McCormick 1968.20.4	click to enlarge	Claude Monet French, 1840-1926 Villas à Bordighera, 1884 Oil on canvas 29 x 36 3/8” Bequest of Katharine Dexter McCormick in memory of her husband, Stanley McCormick 1968.20.5
click to enlarge	Claude Monet French, 1840-1926 Waterloo Bridge, 1900 Oil on canvas 25 3/4 x 36 1/2” Bequest of Katharine Dexter McCormick in memory of her husband, Stanley McCormick 1968.20.7	click to enlarge	Berthe Morisot French, 1841-1895 View of Paris from the Trocadero, 1871-72 Oil on canvas 18 1/8 x 32 1/8” Gift of Mrs. Hugh N. Kirkland 1974.21.2
click to enlarge	Roderic O'Conor Irish (active France), 1860-1940 Dahlias, 1908 Oil on canvas Gift of Mary and Will Richeson, Jr. 1986.93.20	click to enlarge	Odilon Redon French, 1840-1916 Salomé, 1910 Oil on canvas 28 1/4 x 23” Bequest of Wright S. Ludington 1993.1.6
click to enlarge	Auguste Rodin French, 1840-1917 Head of Jean d'Aire, 1886 (cast 1963) Bronze Bequest of Wright S. Ludington 1993.1.18	click to enlarge	Henri Rousseau French, 1844-1910 Castle in Moonlight (Le Donjon), 1889 Oil on canvas 35 1/2 x 27 3/4” Bequest of Wright S. Ludington 1993.1.9
click to enlarge	Theodore Rousseau French, 1812-1867 Vallée de Saint-Ferjeux, Doubs, ca. 1860-62 Oil on canvas 33 3/8 x 53 1/4” Gift of Lady Ridley-Tree in honor of Phillip M. Johnston 2007.37	click to enlarge	Adolf Schreyer German (active France), 1828-1899 Artillery Shell: War in the Desert, n.d. Oil on canvas Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Mitchell 1971.1
click to enlarge	Alfred Sisley French, 1839/40-1899 St. Mammès, Banks of the Seine, 1885 Oil on canvas 21 3/8 x 28 3/4” Bequest of Katharine Dexter McCormick in memory of her husband, Stanley McCormick 1968.20.6	click to enlarge ©Artists Rights Society, Inc. (ADAGP)	Maurice Utrillo French, 1883-1955 Notre Dame Dorèe, 1911 Oil and tempera on paper laid down on canvas Bequest of Wright S. Ludington 1993.1.10
click to enlarge	Vincent van Gogh Dutch (active France), 1853-1890 The Outskirts of Paris, 1886 Oil on canvas Private Collection in memory of Marie Wangeman L.2005.1	click to enlarge	Edouard Vuillard French, 1868-1940 Fuchsias and French Marigolds, 1903 Oil on cardboard 18 1/2 x 16 1/2” SBMA, Gift of Millicent A. Rogers in honor of Ala Story 1953.28
click to enlarge	Edouard Vuillard French, 1868-1940 The Game of Checkers, c. 1905 Oil on canvas 16 1/2 x 15 1/2” SBMA, Gift of Robert B. and Mercedes H. Eichholz 1991.46.2