Curatorial Roundtable | Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Curatorial Roundtable | Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The term “Impressionist” was first applied to artists whose sketch-like brushwork and focus on ordinary subjects set them apart from academic traditions. While the works of Impressionist artists are now renowned for their beauty, they also depicted the sweeping changes of the 19th century— urbanisation, industrialisation and shifting social life— in their paintings. The exhibition “Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston” considers the continuing relevance of Impressionism through the perspectives of artists, such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley.

In this curatorial roundtable, Phoebe Scott (Senior Curator, National Gallery Singapore) and Julia Welch (Arthur K. Solomon Assistant Curator of Paintings, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) shared insights on the curatorial process behind the exhibition, highlighting the ongoing contemporary resonances of Impressionism.



About the Speakers

Phoebe Scott is Senior Curator and Deputy Director (Content Publishing) at National Gallery Singapore. Her curatorial projects include “Between Declarations and Dreams: Art of Southeast Asia since the 19th Century” (2015), which is the inaugural exhibition of the Gallery’s Southeast Asia galleries, “Reframing Modernism: Painting from Southeast Asia, Europe and Beyond” (2016), “Familiar Others: Emiria Sunassa, Eduardo Masferré and Yeh Chi Wei, 1940s–70s” (2022), and most recently, “City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s-1940s” (2025). She holds a PhD in Art History and Theory from the University of Sydney on modern Vietnamese art.

Julia Welch is the Arthur K. Solomon Assistant Curator of Paintings in the Art of Europe department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, specialising in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since 2013, she has worked on numerous in-house and touring exhibitions focused on the Museum’s deep Impressionist collection, as well as avant-garde artists of the early 20th century. Her recent exhibitions include “Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression” (2020), “Turner’s Modern World” (2022), “Mondrian: Foundations” (2023), “Dalí: Disruption and Devotion” (2024), “Renoir and Love” (2025), and an upcoming exhibition of Degas’s portraits co-organised with the Städel Museum in Frankfurt.



About the Exhibition

Developed by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in collaboration with National Gallery Singapore, the exhibition Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston considers the continuing relevance of Impressionism through the perspectives of artists, such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley.



Disclaimer

This video has been edited for clarity and concision. The opinions expressed in this video may not represent the views of National Gallery Singapore. Every effort has been made to obtain permission for the material in this video. Copyright within this video belongs to its respective owners and shall not be reproduced without permission.



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