"Painters in Paris: 1895–1950"
2000-03-08 until 2000-12-31
Metropolitan Museum
New York, NY, USA United States of America

During the first decades of the 20th century, France was host to many foreign artists and Paris was central to the development of modern art. This exhibition, which brings together for the first time more than 100 prime examples from the Metropolitan's collection of paintings by artists of the School of Paris, begins with the Impressionist tradition, represented by Monet, and chronologically continues through the Fauves, Cubists, and Surrealists. Many of these works—by 36 modern masters including Braque, Chagall, Dubuffet, Matisse, Miró, and Modigliani, as well as 19 paintings by Picasso—were acquired through major gifts and bequests during the past two decades. United in this exhibition, the works recall a period and place of great vitality and reveal unexpected relationships between the artists who so profoundly shaped the art of their century.

Painters in Paris: 1895–1950, an exhibition of more than 100 paintings by many of the 20th century's most illustrious modern masters—Bonnard, Braque, Chagall, Dubuffet, Léger, Matisse, Miró, Modigliani, Picasso, as well as others—is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through December 31, 2000. Representing 36 painters of the School of Paris, including the Fauves, the Cubists, and the Surrealists, the exhibition—drawn entirely from the Metropolitan's collection—traces the development of painting in France from its Impressionist roots at the turn of the century through the aftermath of World War II.

This astounding array of paintings by masters of the School of Paris reflects more than a half-century of collecting by the Metropolitan Museum, said Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Museum. This collection has grown dramatically during the last two decades alone, as we have had the good fortune to gratefully accept a number of extraordinarily generous gifts and bequests.

Commented William S. Lieberman, the Museum's Jacques and Natasha Gelman Chairman of the Modern Art Department and curator of the exhibition: This is the first such survey of masterworks from our collection, and it will be revelatory for our visitors. Not only will it recall a period and place of great vitality but it will also reveal unexpected relationships between the artists who so profoundly shaped the art of this century.

The exhibition is sponsored by Aetna.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of New York

Other Important Exhibitions in New York