MISSOULA –

University of Montana art history and criticism Professor H. Rafael Chacón will present a lecture titled “Tensions Between City and Country in Art of the Belle Époque” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, in the Montana Theatre of the Performing Arts and Radio/Television Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Chacón’s lecture will provide a historical backdrop for the current exhibitions on display in the Montana Museum of Art & Culture in the PAR/TV Center. The exhibitions, “Labor and Leisure: Impressionist and Realist Masterpieces from a Private Collection” and “Impressionism: Masterpieces on Paper,” showcase the development of Impressionism by some of history’s most notable artists, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas.

Chacón developed his lecture, which focuses on the mid-19th century transformation of Paris and its impact on art of the time, while serving as a Smithsonian Journeys lecturer on a Viking River Cruises ship over the summer. The cruise traveled the Seine River from Paris to Normandy, and Chacón visited museums and collections in Paris and researched several sites where Impressionists painted and worked.

“My most significant experience was visiting Monet’s gardens in Giverny,” Chacón said. Monet painted some of his most notable works, including the Water Lilies series, in his garden.

The Impressionist exhibits are on display at MMAC through Jan. 5. The museum’s hours are noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday. For more information call 406-243-2019 or go online to http://www.umt.edu/montanamuseum. 

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