Thursday, June 26, 2008

Major Cézanne Exhibit & Cézanne video

Cézanne Exhibit & Video

Britain's biggest single collection of paintings by the French artist Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) will go on display in its entirety for the first time, starting today: from June 26 to October 5, 2008, at London's Courtauld Gallery.

"The Courtauld Cézannes"
exhibition is the culmination of the Courtauld Institute of Art's 75th anniversary celebrations. Major Cézanne paintings as the iconic "Montagne Sainte-Victoire" (1887) and "Card Players" (1892-95) will be shown, as well as rarely seen drawings and watercolours by this master.

Paul Cézanne, Card Players, 1892-95, oil on canvas, Courtauld Gallery, London. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

"Cézanne is the artist at the heart of our collection and of Samuel Courtauld's great project to assemble a collection of modern French paintings," said one of the curators, Barnaby Wright. "It's the greatest collection by some distance in the United Kingdom, larger than the National Gallery and the British Museum together."

Also on display for the first time will be an important group of nine hand-written letters in which Cézanne reflects upon the fundamental principles of his art. One of Cézanne's letters to Bernard was written shortly before his death in 1906 in which Cézanne said: "I have sworn to die while painting, rather than sinking into the degrading senility that threatens old men."

This exhibition traces Cézanne throughout his career: from northern Normandy, to near Paris where he visited his friend Camille Pissarro, and to his native Aix-en-Provence in southern France.

For more info on this exhibition, link to the Courtauld Gallery, London here.


Enjoy this video of Paul Cézanne's art from 'latempesta67' with music by Battiato.





To take a look at other videos with my posts:


Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video


Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.

» Sources: supplemented with report from Agence France-Presse.