The Ashmolean’s spring exhibition tells one of the most compelling stories in the history of art – the rise of Modernism. From the early nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, this story was played out in France and especially in Paris where international artists were drawn by salons and dealers, the creative exchange between poets and painters, and the bohemian atmosphere of such places as Montmartre and Montparnasse. The exhibition plots a course from Neoclassical and Romantic artists like David, Ingres and Delacroix, through Impressionists and Post-Impressionists like Degas, Monet and Seurat, to the groundbreaking experiments of Picasso and Braque; but it shows that there was no straight line leading from tradition to the shock of abstraction. The story is altogether more interesting as academic artists and members of the avant-garde exchanged ideas and as rivalries developed between different schools and powerful characters. In works by Manet, Pissarro, Cézanne, Degas and Picasso, the exhibition explores the artists who created Modernism and how they did it.

Dr Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean, says: ‘This exhibition presents a period of unparalleled artistic invention and experiment through the revealing lens of a private collection. The discernment, passion and judgement of Ursula and Stanley Johnson mean their collection offers a unique insight into this extraordinary period. We are, therefore, enormously grateful to them for allowing the Ashmolean to be the first museum to show the full range of their collection of French art in a major exhibition.’

Tickets:

£10 Standard Full Price
£9 Standard Concessions

Opening Dates and Times:

Exhibition Dates - 10 February – 7 May 2017

Opening Times - 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Sunday, and Bank Holidays (closed on Mondays)

For more details please visit the website, www.ashmolean.org/degastopicasso

Below is Fernand Leger, Mother and Child.