Édouard Manet: “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”, 1882
Courtauld Impressionists at the National Gallery ‘Courtauld Impressionists: From Manet to Cézanne’: For the first time in London for 70 years the National Gallery displays major Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterworks from the Courtauld Gallery, purchased in the 1920s by Samuel Courtauld (1876–1947). 17 September 2018 – 20 January 2019.]]>
Source: National Gallery of Art, London
This exhibition of over forty works is centred around the loan of 26 masterpieces from the Courtauld Gallery, which is closing temporarily in September 2018 as part of a major transformation project: Courtauld Connects. With the largest number of works from Courtauld’s private collection ever to be seen at the National Gallery, “Courtauld Impressionists: From Manet to Cézanne” traces the development of modern French painting from the 1860s to the turn of the 20th century. The exhibition, arranged chronologically in 12 sections – each devoted to a different artist – includes the works of such key figures as Daumier, Manet, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, and Bonnard. The exhibition also focuses on the vision, taste, and motivation of Courtauld as he shaped two collections: one for his and his wife’s own enjoyment, and the other for the nation, with equal tenacity and dedication.
Highlights from Courtauld’s private collection, now part of the Courtauld Gallery, include Renoir’s ‘La Loge (Theatre Box)’ (1874), Cézanne’s ‘The Card Players’ (about 1892–6) and ‘Lac d’Annecy’ (1896), Toulouse-Lautrec’s ‘Jane Avril in the Entrance to the Moulin Rouge’ (about 1892), Manet’s ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère’ (1882), and Seurat’s ‘Young Woman Powdering Herself’ (about 1888–90).
These hang alongside major works acquired for the national collection through the Courtauld Fund. This was set up in 1923 by Courtauld himself for the acquisition of modern French paintings and the works that were purchased now form the core of the National Gallery’s post-1800 collection. They include Renoir’s “At the Theatre (La Première Sortie)” (1876–7); as well as Seurat’s “Bathers at Asnières” (1884), Cézanne’s “Self Portrait” (about 1880–1) and Van Gogh’s “A Wheatfield with Cypresses” (1889) which were the first paintings by these three artists to enter a British public collection.
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Cézanne Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery (exhibition, 2017)
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