Impressionism was born 150 years ago in Paris. Artists flocked to the movement’s flourishing metropolis, and then they went home, spreading new methods and techniques across Europe and the United States. In the suburbs of Boston, in 1898, the Worcester Art Museum opened; it has since built an impressive collection of Impressionist works by artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, John Singer Sargent, and Childe Hassam. The collection sheds light on the beginnings of a movement that shattered traditions, and also on the ways that movement took shape around the world. Most of the paintings in this exhibition have never before been seen in Japan. —Clara Molot