10 Absolute Gems from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

When James Tissot met Kathleen Newton she was 22 years old and the mother of two illegitimate children. She became the painter’s companion and frequent model and she gave birth to Cecil George Newton, who is believed to be Tissot’s son. Tissot frequently referred to the years spent with Newton as the happiest of his life. For the artist, this was a time when he was able to live out his dream of a family life.

3. Auguste Rodin, The Sirens

“Three intertwined sirens sing; each of a different stature and pose, they form an uneven group, staggered like pan pipes,” these words of art critic Gustave Geffroy perfectly describe this beautiful composition by Auguste Rodin. The popularity of this model was long-lived: 18 copies are known, four of which are in marble—like this one.

4. Gerard van Honthorst, Woman Tuning a Lute

Gerard van Honthorst was a Dutch Golden Age painter, who became famous for his use of tenebrism—strong light and shadow effects—which was greatly influenced by the art of Caravaggio. He combined the Italian artist’s dramatic light contrasts with a playful mood, as well as naturalism in the way he presented his subjects.

5. Edgar Degas, At the Theatre: Woman Seated in the Balcony

This painting belongs to a group of works by Edgar Degas that focus mainly on the theatre audience. The woman shown in the foreground of this painting resembles Ellen Andrée, the model whom Degas was particularly fond of during this period.

6. El Greco, Portrait of a Man of the House of Leiva

El Greco is renowned for the elongated forms which he used even in his portraits of noblemen, like this one. Interestingly, this painting was cut down along the bottom, which explains why the fingers of the sitter’s left hand are missing.

7. Rembrandt, Portrait of a Young Woman

The painting by Rembrandt was probably a pendant (a pair of two paintings). It is suggested that it included a portrait of Titus, Rembrandt’s son. In that case, the woman presented here is probably Titus’ wife Magdalena van Loo, and the painting should be dated 1668, when they married.

8. Honore Daumier, Women Pursued by Satyrs

Thanks to this extraordinary picture presented at the official Salon of 1850 in Paris, Honoré Daumier was able to gain deserved recognition as a painter. Up to that point he was mostly known for his political caricatures. The mythological subject was unusual for a realistic artist like Daumier. Most likely it was just a pretext for depicting two bare-breasted women amid a whirlwind of draperies, attempting to escape from their pursuers.

9. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Babylone d’Allemagne

This is one of two posters that Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec created to advertise the novels of Victor Joze, his Polish friend and neighbor. Lautrec brilliantly captures the energy of the horses and riders with just a few lines, in a radical composition of cropped figures—a lesson learnt from Edgar Degas.

10. Édouard Vuillard, Seated Woman in a Dark Room

The seated woman in this painting is Édouard Vuillard’s sister Marie, left alone in the family apartment. The whole scene is very mysterious with the figure, wearing a bright, patterned dress, gradually emerging from the darkness. It is very close to the Symbolist mode.