Imagine a perfect Sunday afternoon. The sun is shining, the wine is flowing, and you are surrounded by your closest friends on a balcony overlooking the Seine River. The air is filled with laughter and the clinking of glasses. This is the “joie de vivre” (joy of living) that Pierre-Auguste

The history of art is filled with ironies, but perhaps none is greater than this: the most beloved, valuable, and influential art movement in history was named after a joke. When Claude Monet first unveiled his hazy, orange-spotted harbor scene in 1874, critics didn’t just dislike it; they laughed at