SOMETIMES it takes a while for a masterpiece to be recognised. When it was first shown in 1876 Edgar Degas' L'Absinthe was panned by critics, who called it ugly, and later hissed at by the public as it was auctioned off.
Now gallery bosses are hoping for a warmer reception when the Impressionist masterpiece forms part of a major exhibition in Edinburgh this summer.
The painting, which features a man and a prostitute drinking the potent liqueur in a Paris café, wil
l hang alongside world- famous works by Renoir and Toulouse Lautrec at the National Galleries Complex in the capital between July and October.
Impressionism and Scotland will explore the links between the Impressionists and Scottish art.
The Impressionists, whose work was viewed as scandalous in its day, had an impact on the work of the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists.
Organisers hope the event could surpass the popularity of the 2003 exhibition "Monet: the Seine and the Sea", which brought a record 140,000 visitors to the galleries on the Mound.
After its first disastrous outing L'Absinthe was put into storage until an 1892 exhibition, when it was booed off the easel.
It was shown again in 1893 in England, where it sparked outrage. The couple in the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes were considered by critics to be shocking, degraded and uncouth.
Another exhibit, James Abbott McNeill Whistler's painting of Battersea Bridge, was equally controversial, and defended by Oscar Wilde, who said: "Where, if not from the Impressionists, do we get those wonderful brown fogs that come creeping down our streets, blurring the gas lamps?
"To whom, if not to Whistler, do we owe the lovely silver mists that brood over our river and turn to faint forms of fading grace?"
The new style of painting may have been contentious, but it inspired a whole new generation of artists, with those in Glasgow particularly influenced by Whistler's credo of "art for art's sake".
One of the turning points in Scottish art was an exhibition on Impressionist paintings in Glasgow in 1878. At the time "Impressionist" was still a term of abuse for a hastily executed or badly done painting.
From the 1890s onwards, Scottish galleries began collecting Impressionist art – although the drinking dens and prostitutes portrayed in many of the paintings remained shocking in a country which was still in the grip of a tea-drinking temperance craze.
As well as works by Glasgow Boys John Lavery, James Guthrie and EA Walton, who were inspired by the style and the subject matter of French Impressionism, the exhibition also explores the way the Scottish Colourists were inspired by the new freedoms being explored in European art.
SJ Peploe, JD Fergusson, Leslie Hunter and FCB Cadell all travelled to France and the influence of the Impressionist and post-Impressionist painters led to a fresh burst of light and colour in Scottish painting styles.
L'Absinthe finds a Scottish parallel with the compositional style of James Guthrie's Midsummer – a portrait of ladies taking tea in Helensburgh.
Paul Cezanne's Big Trees, which is part of the National Gallery's permanent collection, finds a parallel with the style of Peploe's painting Landscape at Cassis, from the collection in Aberdeen.
Announcing the event yesterday, Frances Fowle, the galleries' curator of French art, said: "I hope it's going to be very popular.
"The great thing is, it's not just about the French Impressionists it's also about the Scottish scene.
"I think people will be excited by the French Impressionists' work but they'll also be excited by the work of the Glasgow Boys, which is not as celebrated or well known as it deserves to be.
"I'm looking at the impact of European modern art on Scottish painting."
John Leighton, the director- general of the National Galleries of Scotland, described the exhibition as "ambitious and important", and one of the highlights in this year's cultural calendar.
He said it was "a fascinating exhibition that will do much to illuminate the complex relationship between French and Scottish art in the period from 1860 to 1930".
LATEST IN A LINE OF BLOCKBUSTERSENDURING affection for the works of the impressionists and old masters has been reflected in previous blockbuster exhibitions at the National Galleries of Scotland.
In 2003 the exhibition entitled Monet: The Seine and the Sea attracted a record 140,000 visitors, with queues forming up the Mound.
The 1994 exhibition Monet to Matisse also proved hugely popular, attracting 80,000 visitors.
And art lovers also flocked to see an exhibition of Rembrandt's Women in 2001, with a total of 71,000 visitors passing through the gallery doors.
Last year's Andy Warhol: A Celebration of Life and Death was also immensely popular, revealing a growing taste for more modern art.
The full article contains 804 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
