The exhibit opens Feb. 3 and runs through May 6. It includes 55 paintings from the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tenn., and nearly 30 works from the Speed and other Kentucky public and private collections.
The exhibit focuses on the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods and includes artists immediately preceding and following. The artists worked some, if not all, of their careers in Paris. The diverse subjects and styles illustrate the critical developments in French painting during this period that profoundly changed the direction of modern art.
“Impressionism is one of the most beloved periods in art history, and “Renoir to Chagall: Paris and the Allure of Color” presents works from the most celebrated artists from this era. This exhibition is not only visually stunning, but provides a diverse display of subjects that engaged the Impressionists and their innovative followers,” said curator Ruth Cloudman.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Speed is premiering its new acquisition, “Pont des Saints-Peres, Paris,” as seen from the Tuilleries Gardens. The artist is Henri-Joseph Harpignies.
- Artists include Edgar Degas; Claude Monet; Pierre-Auguste Renoir; Camille Pissarro; Mary Cassatt, the only American to exhibit with the Impressionists; Henri Matisse; Paul Cezanne; Paul Gauguin; Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; Georges Braque; and Marc Chagall.
- Degas’well-known charcoal and pastel, “Dancer Adjusting Her Shoe,” is the centerpiece of the gallery that focuses on Paris ballet and its dancers.
- Besides ballet, galleries are devoted to portraits, still lives, landscapes, night life, and Paris, itself.
“Renoir to Chagall” is the result of a collection-sharing collaboration between the Speed and the Dixon Gallery. The Dixon is exhibiting more than 70 paintings from the Speed’s collection through April 15 in the exhibit “Rembrandt, Rubens and the Golden Age of Painting.”
University of Louisville students, faculty and staff have membership privileges at the Speed Museum.