French Artist Communities Talk 1: The Barbizon School

Date: Sat, 15 November 2025 · 11:00 - 12:00
Cost: ÂŁ8
Venue: Ashmolean Museum
Address: Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PH, United Kingdom
Event page: https://www.ashmolean.org/event/french-artist-communities-talk-1-barbizon-school

French Artist Communities Talk 1: The Barbizon School 🎨

Join Juliet Heslewood — author and art historian — for the opening talk in a four-part series on French artist communities. This first session focuses on the Barbizon School, a group of 19th-century painters who settled in the village of Barbizon, on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest, to work en plein air.

Discover how artists such as Jean-François Millet, Camille Corot, and Charles-François Daubigny captured the rural landscape, peasant life, and the forest’s natural beauty — paving the way for Impressionism.

What to expect:

  • đź–Ľ Insight into the Barbizon School’s origins and influence
  • 🌳 Stories of the forest, village life, and artistic innovation
  • 🖥️ A hybrid format — attend in person or via Zoom

Part of the Ashmolean’s Connect & Collaborate season, this talk is ideal for art lovers, history enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the roots of modern landscape painting.


This event is part of a four-talk series:

  • Talk 1 – The Barbizon School – Sat 15/11/2025
  • Talk 2 – The Pont Aven Painters – Sat 13/12/2025
  • Talk 3 – Van Gogh & Gauguin – Sat 24/01/2026
  • Talk 4 – The Fauves – Sat 21/02/2026