Unplugged event | Van Gogh to Kandinsky

Tracing great movement from Impressionism to Expressionism took place in the span of 15 years (1900-1914). The turn of the 19th century in Europe was a very fruitful time, especially for visual arts. Thanks to extensive research of curator Timothy O. Benson and collaborators, the exhibit traces profoundly the decade and a half that established the history of Modern Art as we know it.

The exhibition does a remarkable job in illustrating a broader understanding of the complex cross-cultural influences during the period. Starting with the effervescence of Paris in 1900, at the time of the Exposition Universelle, unfolds in a series of rooms illustrating the connections there was between the artists, curators, philosophers who communicated ideas and pictorial styles from place to time to exhibition making that decade and a half among the richest periods in European history. The text panels, timelines and photographs that grace the walls of every room are incredibly clear and useful tools for situating the viewer among this fascinating time in history, but nothing compares to the power of the art itself.

Discover the unique world treasures on view, including seminal works you may have glimpsed on trips to New York, Paris and Berlin like Cézanne’s Apples and Biscuits, Marc’s Stables and Van Dongen’s Modkesko, Soprano Singer. Alongside the Van Goghs, Delauneys and Klees there are also gorgeous discoveries, such as Matisse’s Still Life with Oranges II (a humble little painting that really grasps all that was so special in Matisse’s approach to colour), Gauguin’s The Yellow Haystacks and Jawlensky’s Portrait of Marie Castel. The importance of the works on loan is really quite awe inspiring. It brings the world to Montreal.