Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2010

Telemaco Signorini, "The Garden at Settignano"

Japan is known for its slavish devotion to French Impressionism, but how did the movement arise? In 1855, a group of hotheaded Italian painters gathered at a cafe in Florence to plot revolution against the fusty European art establishment. They soon became known for their use of spots of color called “macchia,” and within short order had produced a wealth of landscape masterpieces depicting the sun-drenched sea, gardens, domestic animals and farmhouses. Recent years have seen a reevaluation of the Macchiaioli’s influence on the French Impressionists, whose experiments followed theirs by only a few years.

Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
The Macchiaioli: Italian Masters of Realism. Painting. Until Mar 14, ¥500 (HS and under, 65 and over)/¥800 (univ)/¥1,000 (general). 5-21-9 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku. Tel: 03-3443-0201. Open daily 10am-6pm. Nearest stn: Meguro, west exit or Shirokanedai, exit 1. www.teien-art-museum.ne.jp