Major exhibition of French modern art coming this fall

Monet, Matisse, and much more courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

The Columbia Museum of Art is pleased to announce French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850 – 1950, a major exhibition on view Saturday, October 5, 2024, through Sunday, January 5, 2025. Organized by the Brooklyn Museum, French Moderns showcases more than 50 works from its distinguished collection, encompassing the key avant-garde movements that emerged in and around Paris during this period.

The exhibition’s regional debut will be celebrated at the CMA’s French Moderns Preview Party on Friday, October 4. Tickets open to CMA members on Friday, August 23, and to the public on Friday, September 6.

“It is rare for works with this degree of importance and quality to travel outside of major institutions,” says CMA Senior Curator Michael Neumeister. “This presents a wonderful opportunity for our community to experience significant works of art by some of the most familiar and important names in art history.”

In France, the years between the Revolution of 1848 and the end of the World War II were characterized by sweeping social, intellectual, and political change. The art world, centered in Paris, also witnessed remarkable transformations as artists experimented with bold, expressive styles that revitalized traditional genres.

French Moderns features remarkable examples of Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Fauvism, Cubism, and Surrealism by the era’s leading artists, including Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Camille Corot, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and more.

The exhibition is organized thematically in four sections: Landscape, Still Life, Portraits and Models, and The Nude. Beginning with the landscapes of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and the birth of plein-air painting, it surveys the innovative styles and techniques developed by artists working in France, spanning 19th- and early 20th-century movements from the Realism of Gustave Courbet to the Surrealism of Yves Tanguy.

French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850–1950 is organized by Lisa Small, Senior Curator of European Art, and Richard Aste, former Curator of European Art, Brooklyn Museum.
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French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850–1950 is presented through the support of our generous sponsors and grantors. Silver Sponsors: Mrs. Joyce Martin Hill; First Citizens Bank. Bronze Sponsors: Dr. Gail M. Morrison; Barbara B. Boyd. Contributing Sponsors: Joseph Bruce; Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough; Dr. Suzanne R. Thorpe and Dr. John W. Baynes. Friend Sponsors: Ginny Newell; John and Mary Kessler; Walda C. Wildman; Metro Wines Asheville. Media Sponsors: Grace Outdoor; WXRY 99.3 FM. Grantors: City of Columbia; Experience Columbia SC; Richland County Government; South Carolina Arts Commission; Discover South Carolina.