Of creators and collectors: “Networks of Impressionism” unites technology and research to reveal interconnected stories
Maximilien Luce, The Seine at the Pont Saint-Michel, 1900, Hasso Plattner Collection, Museum Barberini, Potsdam.
The Museum Barberini, the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, and Navigating.art announce "Networks of Impressionism," a collaborative digital endeavor that improves how we research, explore, and experience the stories of Impressionist art within its multifaceted context.
2025 prototype of the forthcoming “Networks of Impressionism” home screen
A new collaborative resource for Impressionist research
The "Networks of Impressionism" project represents an advancement in digital art history. It creates a comprehensive resource that traces the relationships between artists, collectors, critics, exhibitions, and the art market that defined Impressionism from the 1850s to the 1950s. By uncovering and exploring previously overlooked connections, it tells new stories through these relationships. The platform will be comprehensive in its scope, interactive in its design, linkable to external resources, and structured to provide accessibility for both researchers and museum visitors. This balance between scholarly depth and public accessibility represents a thoughtful approach to digital art history projects.
This project combines the Museum Barberini's research on works in the Hasso Plattner Collection with the Wildenstein Plattner Institute's scholarly expertise and digital archives, built on Navigating.art's technology. The result is a digital resource that serves scholars while also supporting art education and international collaboration.
Museum Barberini contributes knowledge on the 115 Impressionist paintings in the Hasso Plattner Collection, which are the starting point to exploring and illuminating the context and networks of Impressionism. The museum's focus on scholarly research combined with public engagement motivates this initiative.
View into the Hasso Plattner Collection at the Museum Barberini © Museum Barberini / David von Becker.
Wildenstein Plattner Institute brings its archival research on Impressionist paintings to the platform. This includes materials directly related to 70 of those in the Hasso Plattner Collection, alongside digitized versions of historic sales catalogs, exhibition documentation, and archival records on key figures related to the project.
Navigating.art provides the technological infrastructure that allows the linking of information and network mapping, as well as the online presentation that makes it accessible to a global audience.
“Networks of Impressionism” is a pioneering, forward-looking initiative,” says Linda Hacka, the provenance research associate at the Museum Barberini. "It addresses the challenge of research data often being scattered, inconsistent, and difficult to access while establishing a transparent platform that is at the cutting edge of technology and easy to use for scholars and art enthusiasts from the general public alike.”
Network analysis and digital methodologies
"Networks of Impressionism" represents a valuable digital resource that can enhance how we approach art historical research. By documenting the interconnections that influenced Impressionism, the project brings additional context to our understanding of individual artwork. Paintings by artists like Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Caillebotte, Vlaminck, or Pissarro exist within a network of relationships — between artist and patron, between critic and public, between dealer and collector. These relationships influenced how these works were created and received in their time, as well as how they have been preserved and studied.
Impressionist artists often worked in series, painting the same subjects under varying conditions and perspectives. This approach naturally creates intimate connections — between artwork, subjects, artists, patrons, places, and, of course, the broader cultural landscape. Investigating these connections holds great potential for the creation of new knowledge and highlighting the stories that surround the creation and movement of beloved artwork.
2025 prototype of the forthcoming “Networks of Impressionism” protagonist page for Paul Durand-Ruel
The protagonist page for Paul Durand-Ruel, for example, encourages readers to explore the famous art dealer's paintings, relationships, and other activities. Because Durand-Ruel played a pivotal role in the history of Impressionism, users of the platform can discover some of the most important artists, exhibitions, and purchases within Impressionism at one starting point. They can also learn about the stories he’s entangled in by entering the timeline on connected artwork and events.
Explore Impressionism and its artifacts through a comprehensive timeline
"Networks of Impressionism" will feature a range of interactive visual components, such as maps, networks, and a timeline that transforms scholarly research into an engaging chronological format. The timeline places events such as the creation of artwork and dates of exhibitions, auction sales, and publications within the context of national and international events. Users can navigate from significant exhibitions to the artwork they feature or from notable figures to their relationships with other protagonists and their creative outputs. The timeline doesn't merely present information differently — it serves as an integrated entry point to the project’s interconnected resources.
2025 prototype of the forthcoming “Networks of Impressionism” timeline with Gustave Caillebotte’s Rue Halévy, View from a Balcony selected
2025 prototype of the forthcoming “Networks of Impressionism” artwork detail page for Gustave Caillebotte’s Rue Halévy, View from a Balcony
A contribution to art historical research within and beyond Impressionism
By making these networks searchable and accessible, "Networks of Impressionism" offers a tool for understanding Impressionist art. It provides new perspectives on well-known works and reveals connections within this critical period of art history. Users can navigate the stories of Impressionism based on their own interests, discovering expert research on every page.
The platform is scheduled to launch in the Fall of 2026 in conjunction with the exhibition "Networks of Impressionism" at the Museum Barberini.
