Eugène Delacroix and Modernity

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R73.42.3evolutionary Painter Eugène Delacroix to be the Focal Point of Major Exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art

First Comprehensive Presentation of Artist’s Influence in Half a CenturyFeatures Masterpieces by Cézanne, Matisse, Degas, and Other Modern Masters

June 12, 2014 – In fall 2015, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) will present Eugène Delacroix and Modernity, the first major exhibition in 50 years to explore the legacy of the celebrated French painter, an influential trailblazer and one of the first modern masters of the form. The exhibition takes Cézanne’s observation that “we all paint in Delacroix’s language” as its starting point and reveals how Delacroix revolutionized French painting for the next generation of artists, leaving an indelible mark on Matisse, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Renoir, Degas, Monet, and others. The MIA is partnering with the National Gallery, London, for this unprecedented survey, featuring important works from the museums’ collections as well as rarely seen works from private collections. The exhibition opens at the MIA on October 18, 2015, and runs through January 10, 2016. It is on view at the National Gallery, London, from February 10, 2016, through May 15, 2016.

By the time of his death, Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) was one of the most revered artists in Paris and a hero of the avant-garde. By challenging the status quo, pushing the boundaries of the “Grand Style” of painting into the realm of modernism, he paved the way for younger artists. His large-scale paintings were the first to use the expressive, improvisational mark-making of the Impressionists, the dreamlike allusion of the Symbolists, and the bold colors of Morocco made famous 80 years later by Renoir and Matisse.

Eugène Delacroix was the very engine of revolution that helped transform the art of French painting in the 19th century,” said Patrick Noon, the MIA’s Patrick and Aimee Butler Curator and Chair of Paintings. “Kept at arm’s length by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, he was an artist who was truly ahead of his time, whose work and critical writings resonated deeply with his peers and helped shape the trajectory of art history. The exhibition will examine Delacroix as the bridge—in practice and in theory—between Anglo-French Romanticism and Impressionism.”

 Eugène Delacroix and Modernity is comprised of 75 pivotal paintings by Delacroix and his admirers, grouped by theme. These featured admirers include Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, PierreAuguste Renoir, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, James McNeill Whistler, Odilon Redon, Paul Signac, and Wassily Kandinsky. The exhibition will also examine Delacroix’s aesthetics, as revealed in his journal, first published in 1893 and a major influence on Signac, Gauguin, and Matisse, among others.

Works from the MIA’s collection form the core of the exhibition, including:

·         Delacroix’s Fanatics of Tangiers (1838), generally considered one of the principal masterworks by the artist in North America

·         Signac’s first pointillist work, Snow, Boulevard de Clichy, Paris (1886)

·         Van Gogh’s Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun (1889)

The MIA has three works by Delacroix that were given by James J. Hill, the foremost collector of Delacroix in America in the 19th century and one of the MIA’s founders—hence the significance of holding this exhibition in 2015, the museum’s 100th year. Major loans came from about 40 world-class museums, including the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; the Uffizi Gallery, Florence; the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, and the Petit Palais, in Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Art, Houston; The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; St. Louis Art Museum; the Dallas Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Art, Boston; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

 Highlights include:

 ·         Delacroix’s Fanatics of Tangier (1837–38), Minneapolis Institute of Art

·         Cézanne’s Battle of Love (1880), National Gallery of Art

·         Gauguin’s Christ in the Garden of Olives (1889), Norton Museum of Art

·         Manet’s Music in the Tuileries Gardens (1862), National Gallery, London

 “This exhibition is a remarkable opportunity to showcase the best of our collection with seminal paintings from around the globe,” said Kaywin Feldman, MIA director and president. “As the Minneapolis Institute of Art celebrates its 100th anniversary, we are pleased to add a new chapter to our visitors’ understanding of the role of this pivotal artist in the genesis of modern art.”

Eugène Delacroix and Modernity is organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the National Gallery, London. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition and will include essays by Patrick Noon, curator of the exhibition and MIA’s Patrick and Aimee Butler Curator and Chair of Paintings, and Christopher Riopelle, the Curator of Post1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, London.

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Home to more than 85,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) inspires wonder, spurs creativity, and nourishes the imagination. With extraordinary exhibitions and one of the finest wide-ranging art collections in the country—Rembrandt to van Gogh, Monet to Matisse, Asian to African—the MIA links the past to the present, enables global conversations, and offers an exceptional setting for inspiration. The 2013 fiscal year marked the highest attendance—679,357 visitors—in the nearly 100-year history of the MIA. For more information, visit www.artsmia.org.

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