Between March 30 and July 28, Rome hosts the exhibition "Impressionists – The Dawn of Modernity," an anthological show celebrating the artistic movement created 150 years ago.
More than 160 works by 66 artists were gathered at the Infantry Historical Museum, with emphasis on Degas, Manet, Renoir and De Nittis.
“It is an exhibition with a special, unprecedented nature, held especially for this location”, explained Vincenzo Sanfo, member of the scientific committee that organizes the exhibition.
Divided into three sections, it embraces a temporal arc from the beginning of the 19th century, with works by Ingres, Corot, Delcroix and Doré, all from private Italian and French collections; passing through the heirs Toulouse-Lautrec, Permeke, Derain, Dufy and Vlamininck; and concluding in 1968 with an engraving by Pablo Picasso, paying homage to Degas and Desboutin.
Alongside works by great protagonists such as Pissarro, Degas, Cézanne, Sisley, Monet, Morisot and Renoir, paintings by lesser-known artists also stand out, such as Bracquemond, Forain, Lepic, Millet and Firmin-Girad.
Among the main focuses are drawing, incisions and printing techniques, influenced by the advent of photography.
“The Impressionists abandoned the academic painting of great historical pictures and began to portray each other or immortalize moments of everyday life. They have a much less formal vision of painting”, said Gilles Chazal, from the same organizing committee.
The same perspective appears in the collection of books, letters and personal objects on display, such as a Monet teapot.
“Impressionism is not a movement, but a human condition, which arises when the painting of reality is defeated by the invention of photography.
It's life, the possibility of representing states of mind. It is made to tell us what reality causes us inside. So it will never end”, says art critic Vittorio Sgarbi, who leads the exhibition. (HANDLE)
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