We're at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this morning -- high atop the "Rocky steps" -- where we will preview a hugely anticipated new exhibition, Gauguin Cezanne Matisse Visions of Arcadia.
Curator Joe Richel will lead us on a tour of the exhibition and we'll be telling you more about it as we move along.
The show opens on June 20 and continues through September 3 and it promises to be a delightful summer treat.
The theme of an earthly paradise, or Arcadia, has been popular in theater, poetry, music, and art since antiquity. In France during the early 1900s, this idea of a mystical place of contentment and harmony was especially potent--illustrated in mural-sized paintings which were often commissioned for public viewing. This exhibition explores the theme in three such paintings of the time: Paul Gauguin’s Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1898), Paul Cézanne’s The Large Bathers (1906), and Henri Matisse’s Bathers by a River (1909-17). Placed on view together, in a dialogue of sorts, these three masterpieces take visitors to the very foundations of modern art.
This exhibition, which is only being shown in Philadelphia, includes masterpieces by artists such as Albert Gleizes, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Signac that emphasize the French tradition of grand public paintings.
Works by Nicolas Poussin and others establish the prevalence of the Arcadian theme. With major loans from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Art Institute of Chicago, Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia allows visitors to experience works created during one of the most innovative and remarkable periods in the history of art.
Quite a few years ago I saw an exhibition of Gauguin's Tahitian inspired art at the National Gallery in Washington and was seduced by the artist's sensuous theme and vivid colors.
Now, this new exhibition promises a more diverse and thorough examination of the longing, meaning and fascination behind this theme and its followers.
We are so fortunate to be able to welcome the world to this exhibition in Philadelphia.
Click here for ticket information.
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