October 2002 - An Autumn for the Arts

Art lovers rejoice! At least seven important art exhibitions are being held in Paris this fall, four of which have already begun. Now, more than ever, the City of Light beckons travelers to experience the richness of history and culture.

Max Beckmann: Un peintre dans l'histoire
The Centre Pompidou is hosting an exhibit of the works of Max Beckmann, a German artist whose works express the shock and disillusionment he experienced while serving in the medical corps on the Belgian front during the First World War. He left Germany for Amsterdam after the Nazi government declared his art degenerate in 1937. After the Second World War, he emigrated to the United States, where he worked as professor in Saint Louis and then at the Brooklyn Art School in New York. The exhibition traces his artistic itinerary and follows the successive stages of his works.
(12 September 2002 - 6 January 2004)

Manet.. Velázquez.. The Spanish Manner in the 19th Century
The Musée d'Orsay is exhibiting a number of 19th century Spanish masterpieces, including four paintings by Velázquez on loan from the Prado. The theme of the exhibit is the influence that Spanish painting exerted on French artists such as Delacroix, Millet, Corbet, Degas, and above all Manet. A number of Manet's works are exhibited, allowing visitors to follow the artist's progress before and after his trip to Spain. The exhibit also includes paintings by Manet's contemporaries.
(17 September 2002 - 7 January 2004)

Le Geste Kongo
An important exhibition of around 110 statues and statuettes from the Congo is taking place at the Dapper Museum. The theme of the exhibit is the representation of expressive forms of body language in Congolese sculpture. The hand on the knee of one figure, for example, represents a state of calmness and self-composure; the wide open eyes of another represent anger. A number of museums from around the world have contributed to this exhibition, including the Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde of Munich and the Royal Museum of Central Africa of Tervuren. In conjunction with the exhibit is another, entitled "Les Bois Sacrés d'Hélénon", by Martinican artist Serge Hélénon. In 1970, he and fellow artist Louis Laouchez founded "L'Ecole Négro-Caraïbe" in Abidjan.
(18 September 2002 - 19 January 2004)

Matisse/Picasso
The Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais are hosting an important exhibit of the works of Matisse and Picasso. These two artists were friends and collaborators, but their works took different paths. A joint exhibition of their works was first held by art dealer-collector Paul Guillaume in 1918. At the time, the poet Guillaume Apollinaire declared that the two were "…most famous artists, who represent the two main, opposing trends in contemporary art." The current exhibition is chronological, designed to reveal the exchanges and thematic interplay between their works throughout their artistic careers.

(22 September 2002 - 6 January 2004)

Constable
A selection of paintings of John Constable, 19th century British landscape artist, will be exhibited at the Grand Palais beginning on October 10th. Considered by Delacroix to be the "father of our school of landscape", Constable's success was briefer than that of his contemporary, William Turner. Born in Suffolk in 1776, Constable studied art at the Royal Academy in 1799. But it was not until the 1820s that he had his first successful exhibit, which was held in Paris. The works exhibited have been selected by British artist Lucian Freud, and represent Constable's best known works (The Hay Wain, different versions of the Salisbury Cathedral...) as well as a number of his lesser known pieces.
(10 October 2002 - 13 January 13)

De Caillebotte à Picasso: Chefs-d'œuvre de la collection Oscar Ghez

The exhibit of master works from the collection of Oscar Ghez is scheduled to open in October for a 7-month run at the Musée Jacquemart André. Born of a family of industrialists, Ghez showed great interest in art collecting from a young age. By the time of his death in 1998, some 10,000 works spanning the period 1870 to 1950 had passed through his hands. To permit the public to view his collection, he founded a museum in Geneva in 1968, the Musée du Petit-Palais. The Musée Jacquemart André in Paris will exhibit the works by theme: Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism, the School of Pont-Aven, the Nabis, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, the School of Paris, Cubism, Classicism and Surrealism.
(15 October 2002 15 June 2004)

Modigliani
In what is being billed as "the most important [exhibit] ever organized on the artist", the Musée du Luxembourg will open its doors on October 23 for an exhibition of the art of Amedeo Modigliani. One hundred paintings, of which one-third have never been exhibited in France, as well as drawings and sculptures will highlight the immense talent of this Italian artist who struggled against poverty and chronic ill health in Paris until his death from tuberculosis, and alcohol and drug abuse in 1920.
(23 October 2002 - 2 March 2004)