Royal Academy of Arts

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse

30 Jan - 20 Apr 2016

Claude Monet,
Water Lilies, 1904.
Oil on canvas. 90 x 83 cm. Le Havre, Musée d'Art moderne André Malraux. Photo © MuMa Le Havre. Photography: David Fogel.
Joaquin Sorolla,
Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1911.
Oil on canvas. 150 x 225.5 cm. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York, NY. Photo © Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Exhibition co-organised by the Royal Academy of Arts and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Claude Monet,
Le bassin aux nymphéas, harmonie verte, 1899.
Oil on canvas. 89 x 93.5 cm. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, inv. RF 2004. Bequest of Comte Isaac de Camondo, 1911 Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski.
Claude Monet,
Le jardin de l'artiste à Giverny, 1900.
Oil on canvas. 81.6 x 92.6 cm. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, inv. RF 1983-6. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski.
Wassily Kandinsky,
Murnau The Garden II, 1910.
Oil on cardboard. 67 x 51 cm. Merzbacher Kunststiftung. Photo © Merzbacher Kunststiftung.
Claude Monet,
Water Lilies (Agapanthus), 1915-26.
Oil on canvas. 200 x 425.5 cm. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 57-26. Photo © The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Photography: Louis Meluso.
Claude Monet,
Spring Flowers, 1864.
Oil on canvas. 116.8 x 90.5 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hanna Fund. Photo © The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Auguste Renoir,
Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil, 1873.
Oil on canvas. 46.7 x 59.7 cm. Bequest of Anne Parrish Titzell, 1957.614. Photo © Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT.
Max Liebermann,
Flower Terrace in the Garden, Wannsee, 1915.
Oil on canvas. 60 x 89.5 cm. Die Lübecker Museen. Museum Benhaus Drägerhaus. Photo © Die Lübecker Museen. Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus. Exhibition co-organised by the Royal Academy of Arts and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Pierre Bonnard,
Resting in the Garden, 1914.
Oil on canvas. 100.5 x 249 cm. Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Gift 1931 from the Friends of the National Gallery, Oslo. Bought by the collector Walther Halvorsen, 1920, from Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, inv. NG.M.01643 Photo © Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design/The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design / © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2015. Exhibition co-organised by the Royal Academy of Arts and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN: MONET TO MATISSE
30 January — 20 April 2016

Using the work of Monet as a starting point, this landmark exhibition examines the role gardens played in the evolution of art from the early 1860s through to the 1920s.

Trace the emergence of the modern garden in its many forms and glories as we take you through a period of great social change and innovation in the arts. Discover the paintings of some of the most important Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Avant-Garde artists of the early twentieth century as they explore this theme.

Please note, paid tickets have now sold out. We recommend that Friends of the RA reserve free tickets in advance to guarantee entry at their preferred time.

Monet, arguably the most important painter of gardens in the history of art, once said he owed his painting “to flowers”. But Monet was far from alone in his fascination with the horticultural world, which is why we will also be bringing you masterpieces by Renoir, Cezanne, Pissarro, Manet, Sargent, Kandinsky, Van Gogh, Matisse, Klimt and Klee.

For these artists and others, the garden gave them the freedom to break new ground and explore the ever-changing world around them. Highlights include a remarkable selection of works by Monet, including the monumental Agapanthus Triptych, reunited specifically for the exhibition, Renoir’s Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil and Kandinsky’s Murnau The Garden II.

As our galleries are bathed in the colour and light of more than 120 works, see the garden in art with fresh eyes.

Exhibition co-organised by the Royal Academy of Arts and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
 

Tags: Wassily Kandinsky