The painting revolution
Art has always broken away from traditions. An exhibition at the Arp Museum in Rolandseck highlights the transformations in painting over 250 years, from Nicolas Poussin to Claude Monet.
The light of Italy
The exhibition examines the milestones in the path of art history into modernity. Born in 1594, Nicolas Poussin is considered a pillar of French art, even though he spent decades in Rome. He was a "pictor doctus," a humanist who integrated scholarship and rigid classicism in his work. He painted heroic landscapes with references to antiquity.
Atmospheric nature
Claude Lorrain, born Claude Gellée, was another French artist who moved to Italy. He painted harmonious pastoral landscapes and specialized in adding atmospheric backdrops, such as the lighting of dawn or dusk, to his depictions of mythological scenes.
Ideal landscapes
Avoiding narratives in his images, Jean-François Millet used loose brushstrokes to paint the perfect harmony of nature. This painting, "Country Scene with Stile," focuses on details of the rural world. The colors are fresh, the sun shines brightly. Yet Millet did not paint outdoors, but in his studio from memory.
Precursors of Impressionism
Charles-François Daubigny also masterfully rendered various weather conditions. With Millet, he founded the famous Barbizon school in 1841. To vividly reproduce the local landscape, they began working "en plein air," outdoors in natural light. New field easels could easily be carried and set up in nature. In this Daubigny painting, the colors of the cattle merge with the surroundings.
Summer with river
Alfred Sisley was among the closest friends of Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir. He also specialized in landscape depiction, producing about 900 oil paintings. In 1880, he moved to a small village near the Fontainebleau forest, where the painters of the Barbizon school had worked earlier in the century. In this work, the colors of the sky are reflected in the river.
Frivolous music lessons
During the 18th century, artists progressively liberated themselves from tradition. Paintings such as François Boucher's "The Flute Lesson" (1751) were highly regarded in the court of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. Such works were often commissioned by members of the bourgeoisie. Love, education and simple rural life: everyday human topics were becoming popular.
Allegories of love
Experimenting with tradition, Jean-Honoré Fragonard created variations on the theme of the "fête galante," a category of pictorial art featuring amorous figures in lush outdoor settings. Fragonard painted erotically charged scenes in his works. He would pick ancient myths to create his allegories of love, such as Venus and Cupid, pictured here.
Beautiful women
In the 19th century, it took a great deal of artistic self-confidence to paint a woman reading. Pierre-Auguste Renoir loved to create such representations of women. They served as metaphors for innocence, purity and beauty. His models were often girls from provincial France.
Path to modernity
Claude Monet created "Path in the Forest" in 1865. Using broad brush strokes, he avoided dramatic light and shadow effects. A more delicate glow appears on the leaves of the trees. This painting is considered a preliminary work to his masterpiece "Luncheon on the Grass," which established him as the painter of modern life.
French art from Ireland
Intertwining the history of art and politics, the Arp Museum exhibition shows how artists sought to find their place in the establishment. The 18th century concept of "genius" allowed new creative freedom and paved the way to Impressionism. The 50 works of the exhibition come from the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin und UNICEF's Rau collection - many shown for the first time in Germany.