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Theme Five: Connecticut and American Impressionism

  • The Museum will be closed on Easter Sunday, March 31.

Informed and inspired by French Impressionists such as Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir, American artists imported the characteristics of the radical style while making it their own as they adapted it to American subjects.

Informed and inspired by French Impressionists such as Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir, American artists imported the characteristics of the radical style while making it their own as they adapted it to American subjects.


Related Student Learning Goals

Students will understand, select, and apply media, techniques and processes.

(Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Media)

Students will understand and apply elements and organizational principles of art.

(Visual Arts Content Standard 2: Elements and Principles)

Students will consider, select, and apply a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.

(Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Content)

Students will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.

(Visual Arts Content Standard 4: History and Cultures)

Students will reflect upon, describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate their own and others’ work.

(Visual Arts Content Standard 5: Analysis, Interpretation, and Evaluation)

Students will make connections between the visual arts, other disciplines and daily life.

(Visual Arts Content Standard 6: Connections)

Students will develop historical thinking skills, including chronological thinking and recognizing change over time; contextualizing, comprehending and analyzing historical literature; researching historical sources; understanding the concept of historical causation; understanding competing narratives and interpretation; and constructing narratives and interpretation.

(Social Studies Content Standard 1: Historical Thinking)

Students will recognize the continuing importance of historical thinking and historical knowledge in their own lives and in the world in which they live.

(Social Studies Content Standard 4: Applying History)

Students will use spatial perspective to identify and analyze the significance of physical and cultural characteristics of place and world regions.

(Social Studies Content Standard 9: Places and Regions)


There are several sections of The Fox Chase site where students can investigate Theme 5: Connecticut and American Impressionism.

Go to School for Lyme for information regarding the working methods of the artists in both their studio and when working “en plein air”.

Go to Painting Tools for information regarding the tools and techniques of the artists who came to Old Lyme.

Go to Chadwick Studio for information about the artist studio located on the grounds of the Florence Griswold Museum.

Go to Henry Ward Ranger for information regarding the founder of the Lyme Art Colony and his interest in Tonalism.

Go to Tonalism for information regarding the style of painting most popular during the early years of the Lyme Art Colony.

Go to Childe Hassam for information regarding the artist who is credited with bringing American Impressionism to Old Lyme.

Go to American Impressionism for information regarding the style of painting most popular during the later years (after 1903) of the Lyme Art Colony.

Go to Imagine Yourself as an Artist for information regarding what a typical artist would experience arriving at the Griswold House.

Go to The Landscape of Old Lyme for information regarding the geological history of the region.

Go to The Village of Old Lyme for information regarding the economic development of the village.


There are several sections of In Situ: The Painted Panels site where students can investigate Theme 5: Connecticut and American Impressionism.

Go to Laurel and Birches Beside a Lake by Frank Bicknell for information regarding a panel painted in the American Impressionistic style.

Go to Birch Trees Beside a Lake by Willard Metcalf for information regarding a panel painted in the American Impressionistic style.

Go to Landscape with Cow by Walter Griffin, Childe Hassam, and Henry Rankin Poore for information regarding a panel painted by three artists in the American Impressionistic style.


There are several sections of Resources for Educators site where students can investigate Theme 5: Connecticut and American Impressionism.

Go to Timeline for information regarding the development of the Lyme Art Colony along with other major historical moments.

Go to Wiggle Drawings for information regarding this historic activity played by the artists.  The game and resulting images offer a window into the past.

Go to Movie House to view all of the vintage film footage available from the Lyme Artists reels.