Few people can say they have stood face-to-face with a real Claude Monet painting. For the Provo community, Saturday may be their last chance.

"To say you've seen a Monet 'Water Lilies' in Utah is pretty rare," said Chris Wilson, marketing manager at the Museum of Art. "It's an experience that you don't have too often on campus."

The MOA is currently featuring "Paths to Impressionism: French and American Landscape Paintings from the Worcester Art Museum." This exhibition, including the Monet, returns to Worcester, Mass. Sunday after touring galleries in Florida, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

"We were very pleased to be included in this exhibition," said Paul Anderson, curator of special exhibitions at the MOA. "It's one of the finest painting exhibitions that has ever been shown in Utah."

Wilson agreed that it is one of the best painting shows they have had.

"It's an unusual opportunity for people to see first-rate painting from this revolutionary period in the history of painting," Anderson said. "The quality of the exhibition is uniformly high."

The gallery is divided into four groups, French Barbizon School, American response to Barbizon, French Impressionism and American Impressionism.

"It ... explores the development of the Impressionistic movement," Wilson said.

The Worcester Art Museum divided the paintings into the categories, and then Anderson arranged them within each group. The paintings are clearly labeled into their respective countries - the French hang on gray-green walls, while the American art is on gold walls.

Serena Zibetti, a BYU special education major from Provo, said she learned a lot about impressionism from the exhibit.

"Some of the paintings are just spectacular," she said. "It is amazing to see the thought the artists put into the paintings."

Zibetti said she loved the softness of the paintings and how the colors blend together.

"I'm not an art connoisseur, but I'm learning to appreciate it," she said.

Anderson said it is interesting that our idea of landscape painting today is conservative compared to modern art. However, in the 1840s, this movement was radical.

"Something we see as tranquil was revolutionary," said MOA security guard Jessica Buffington, a music composition major from Lakewood, Wash.

The Museum of Art is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

"It's the classiest free date on campus," Anderson said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 5 Jul 2007