The Pre-Impressionist Reality of Gustave Colin To look at the work of Gustave Colin is to witness a specific, unvarnished moment in French painting where the influence of Camille Corot met the rising tide of Impressionism. He was not a radical, but a participant. While history often focuses on the rebels of 1874, Colin’s presence in that first Impressionist exhibition proves he occupied the vital, messy middle ground between tradition…