The Doges Palace (Le Palais ducal) by Claude Monet, 1908 (Creative Commons)
Monet and Picasso return to the Brooklyn Museum in new installation
Picasso, Monet and Matisse return in a new exhibit displaying several 19th- and 20th-century European artists beginning in February
Picasso, Monet and Matisse have been on a world tour. Now they’re coming home.
Beginning February 4, nearly 90 pieces of artwork from 19th- and 20th-century European artists are being redisplayed at the Brooklyn Museum. Some of the artwork has traveled from Kansas to Korea in recent years, so next month’s “thematic reinstallation” marks the first they’ve been collectively displayed together since 2016.
“Casting fresh eyes on the collection, this presentation explores not only the profound and ongoing influence of modern European art, but also how the art historical canon itself is a site of tension,” Brooklyn Museum explained in a press release. Basically, it’s a feast for the eyes without having to schlep them over the ocean.
Opening Feb 4, Monet to Morisot: The Real and Imagined in European Art will cast fresh eyes on our European art collection, exploring not only the ongoing influence of modern European art, but also how the art historical canon itself is a site of tension. https://t.co/6BY9r6Ummu pic.twitter.com/KEevN1qk6e
— Brooklyn Museum (@brooklynmuseum) January 6, 2022
Among the artists on display include Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Francisco Oller, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Vasily Kandinsky.
“It’s thrilling that so many of Brooklyn’s extraordinary holdings of modern European art, including some of our earliest acquisitions by Degas and Cézanne, are going back on view in a beautifully designed space where visitors can experience them anew, alongside rarely seen ‘discoveries’ by artists like Chana Orloff and Ivan Meštrovic,” said Lisa Small, the installation’s curator, in the release.
The museum also aims to reexamine a canon that includes, well, a lot of work from white dudes. It serves to remind “visitors that the traditional canon of European art history, exemplified by many of the works on view—made by white artists and almost exclusively depicting white people—is both imagined and real,” the museum explained.
Brooklyn Museum is bouncing back after a tough few years amid the pandemic. In November, the museum announced it was the recipient of a $50 million gift from the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs that will be used to upgrade existing gallery spaces, build space for more community initiatives and even a new gallery space dedicated to Brooklyn’s history.
