1874, The Birth of Impressionism

This documentary-fiction film explores the origins of the Impressionist movement in late 19th-century Paris. It focuses on a group of young, rebellious painters, including Claude Monet and Edgar Degas, who were rejected by the traditional art establishment and mocked by classical masters. To bypass official restrictions, these artists organized an independent exhibition on April 15, 1874, in the studio of the photographer Nadar. The story depicts how this act of defiance against academic standards helped trigger a revolution in the art world during the emergence of modernity.

The movie was co-directed by Julien Johan and Hugues Nancy. This project marks the first film in Johan's listed chronology. For Nancy, it follows his earlier works Nous les ouvriers and Missak Manouchian and the Red Poster, and precedes his later films 1936: The Popular Front, Between Joy and Anger and Marc Bloch: In the Name of France. Produced in France by ARTE and Gedeon Programmes, the production features a cast that includes Yann Lesvenan as Claude Monet, Maxime Berdougo as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Marie-Stéphane Cattaneo as Berthe Morisot. Other cast members include Antonin Py, Laurent Delbecque, and Olivier Bonnaud. The film has a runtime of 90 minutes.