1885 in art

Events

• "Glasgow Boys" first exhibit collectively, at the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.
• August - First public display of works by Vincent van Gogh, in the windows of the art dealer Leurs at The Hague.
• Aberdeen Art Gallery opens in Scotland.
• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery opens in England.
• The Guildhall Art Gallery opens in the City of London.
• The E. B. Crocker Art Gallery is presented to the people of Sacramento, California.

Awards

• John Everett Millais is granted a baronetcy in the United Kingdom, the first artist to be honoured with a hereditary title.

Works

Thomas Eakins - The Swimming Hole

• William-Adolphe Bouguereau - The Young Shepherdess
• Frank Bramley
  • Everyone His Own Tale
  • Primrose Day
• Thomas Eakins - The Swimming Hole
• Albert Edelfelt - Portrait of Louis Pasteur
• Henri Fantin-Latour - Around the Piano
• Stanhope Forbes - A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach
• Ellen Day Hale - Self Portrait (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
• Juan Luna
  • Chula series
  • Odalisque
• John Everett Millais - The Ruling Passion
• Ilya Repin - Ivan the Terrible And His Son Ivan, 16 November 1581 (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow)
• Marie Spartali Stillman - Love's Messenger
• James Tissot
  • The Bridesmaid
  • The Shop Girl
• William Greene Turner - Oliver Perry Monument (bronze, Newport, Rhode Island)
• Vincent van Gogh
  • The Potato Eaters (April)
  • Cottages series
  • Old Church Tower at Nuenen series (continued)
  • Peasant Character Studies
  • Still life paintings (continuing)
  • Two Paintings of Amsterdam (October)
• John William Waterhouse - Saint Eulalia
• George Frederic Watts - Love and Life

Births

• January 21 - Duncan Grant, painter (d. 1978)
• February 18 - Henri Laurens, sculptor (d. 1954)
• March 31 - Pascin, painter and draftsman (d. 1930)
• April 8 - Norman Clyde, American mountaineer, nature photographer and naturalist (d. 1972)
• April 12 - Robert Delaunay, painter (d.1941)
• May 12 - Mario Sironi, Italian painter (d.1961)
• June 27 - Arthur Lismer, painter, member of the Group of Seven (d. 1969)
• July 5 - André Lhote, painter (d. 1962)
• July 11 - Roger de La Fresnaye, painter (d. 1925)
• August 30 - Paul Gösch, German artist and architect (d. 1940)
• October 15 - Jóhannes Sveinsson Kjarval, Icelandic painter (d. 1972)
• October 21 - Jan Altink, Dutch painter (d. 1971)
• November 14 - Sonia Delaunay, Ukrainian-French artist (d. 1979)

Deaths

• January 20 - Joseph Niklaus Bütler, Swiss painter (b. 1822)
• April 18 - Rudolf Eitelberger, art historian (b. 1817)
• April 29 - Ernst Joachim Förster, painter (b. 1800)
• June 13 - Carl Arnold Gonzenbach, Swiss painter (b. 1806)
• August 30 - Thomas Thornycroft, sculptor (b. 1815)
• September 6 - Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol, Spanish artist and engineer (b. 1819)
• September 23 - Carl Spitzweg, painter (b. 1808)
• October 9 - John Bowes, art collector (b. 1811)
• December 5 - Wilhelm Ripe, painter (b. 1818)
• December 11 - James Fahey, painter (b. 1804)
• date unknown - Girolamo Masini, sculptor (b. 1840)