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Impressionist Treasures Flee West Palm Beach Today

Hurry to the Norton Museum of Art to see American Impressionism: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and this artwork, The Flight into Egypt, before the show closes today!

The exhibition features 52 luminous works by turn-of-the century painters who often worked outdoors to capture brilliant effects of light and color. Impressionist painter George Hitchcock is less well known today, though during his life he was regarded in Europe and America as one of the best painters.

In this scene, Mary and Joseph flee with the Christ child from King Herod. George Hitchcock secularized the subject, placing the biblical figures in the landscape of Holland, where he lived for some time. This prompted a critic of the day to write: ³It is a very gracious arrangement of color, but entirely without value as a sacred picture.²

Source: Joann Moser. American Impressionism: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).

Pictured: George Hitchcock, 1850 USA–1913 Holland, The Flight into Egypt, 1892, oil, 44 3/8 x 65 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum Purchase.