The Valley of Arconville

c. 1887

Theodore Robinson (American, 1852–1896)

One of the first American artists to paint in Giverny, France (northwest of Paris), Theodore Robinson drew upon the teachings of the region’s most famous resident, Claude Monet, in his vibrant compositions. Using layered, broken brushwork, Robinson foregrounded the slope of the hill, leading the eye from the figure at right across the Valley of Arconville (southeast of Paris). Capturing the effects of light on the landscape like Monet and other progressive French painters, Robinson nonetheless rendered his forms with a measure of solidity that was more typical of American artists who worked in an Impressionist style.

Status: On View, Gallery 273
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Theodore Robinson
Title: The Valley of Arconville
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1887
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed recto, bottom-right, on grass, in brown paint: "TH. ROBINSON".
Dimensions: 45.8 × 55.7 cm (18 × 21 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Friends of American Art Collection
Reference Number: 1941.11
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/40549/manifest.json

D.F. Hoopes, The American Impressionists (New York: Watson–Guptill Publications, 1972), p. 48, pl. 15.
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I, (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998).
Judith A. Barter, et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), cat. 47.

New York, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, Society of American Artists, Eleventh Exhibition, May 13–June 15, 1889, no. 119.
San Francisco, Panama–Pacific International Exposition, Feb. 20–Dec, 1915, no. 2668 as Le Val Arconville: Eure.
Washington, DC, Museum of Modern Art Gallery, A Century of American Painting, Mar. 1939, as Val Arconville.
Los Angeles Museum, The Development of Impressionism, Jan. 12–Feb. 28, 1940, no. 76 as Valley, Arconville.
Brooklyn Museum, Special Exhibition of Theodore Robinson, Nov. 12–Jan. 5, 1947, no. 238, ill. ix.
Indiana, South Bend Art Association, American Painting in the Manner of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries, Feb. 10–Mar. 31, 1948, no. 44 as The Vale of Arconville.
Milwaukee–Downer College, A Century of Landscape Painting by American Artists 1851–1951, Feb. 13–Mar. 23, 1951, no. 7 as Val D’Arcouville. *only checklist on back of symposium brochure, The Arts in Society, Milwaukee–Downer College Feb. 13, 1951.
Art Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950, Oct. 1, 1959–Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available].
New York, American Federation of Arts, Monet and the Giverny Group, Dayton Art Institute, Jan. 6–Feb. 12, 1961, no. 27 as the Vale of Arconville; Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Mar. 11–Apr. 5; Tucson, Ariz., University of Arizona Museum of Art, Apr. 19–May 10; Reno, University of Nevada, Oct. 21–Nov. 11; San Diego, Fine Arts Gallery, Nov. 30–Dec. 23; Atlanta Art Association, Jan. 7–28, 1962.
Madison, University of Wisconsin, Memorial Union Gallery, Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Theodore Robinson, 1852–1896, Oct. 29–Nov. 10, 1964, no. 11, ill. no. 14 as The Vale of Arconville.
New York, Kennedy Galleries, Inc., An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors by Theodore Robinson, Nov. 1–Dec. 15, 1966, cat. no. 41.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Theodore Robinson, 1852–1896, May 1–June 10, 1973, no. 22, ill.; The Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, July 12–Aug. 26; Worcester Art Museum, Sept. 19–Oct. 28; Omaha, Neb., Joslyn Art Museum, Nov. 19–Dec. 23; Utica, NY, Musnon–Williams–Proctor Institute, Jan. 20–Feb. 24, 1974.
Albi, France, Musée Toulouse–Lautrec, Trésors Impressionnistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27–Aug. 31, 1980, cat. 53.
Baltimore Museum of Art, In Monet’s Light: Theodore Robinson at Giverny, Oct. 17, 2004–Jan. 9, 2005, cat.; Phoenix Art Museum, Feb. 6–May 8, 2005; Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum, June 4–Sept. 4, 2005.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama–Pacific International Exposition, Oct. 17, 2015–Jan. 10, 2016, cat. 52.

Arthur A. Carey, Waltham, MA, by 1889. M. Knoedler and Co., New York, by 1908; Hillyer Art Gallery, Smith College, Northampton, MA, 1908; M. Knoedler and Co., New York, 1931; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1941.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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