French Masterworks from the Dixon Gallery and Gardens
Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Port of Dieppe, Evening, 1882. Oil on canvas. 23 x 28 3/8 inches. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Gift of Montgomery H.W. Ritchie, 1996.2.7.
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839-1906). Trees and Rocks near the Château Noir, ca. 1900-06. Oil on canvas. 24 3/8 x 20 ¼ inches. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Museum purchase from Cornelia Ritchie and Ritchie Trust No. 4, 1996.2.20.
Berthe Morisot (French, 1841-1895). Peasant Girl among Tulips, 1890. Oil on canvas. 25 3/4 x 28 5/8 inches. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Museum purchase, 1981.1.
Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954). The Palace, Belle Île, ca. 1896-97. Oil on canvas. 13 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Hugo N. Dixon, 1975.15. © 2019 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901). Dancer Seated on a Pink Divan, 1884. Oil on canvas. 18 3/4 x 14 1/4 inches. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Gift of Sara Lee Corporation, 2000.3.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919). The Wave, 1882. Oil on canvas. 21 1/4 x 25 5/8 inches. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Museum purchase from Cornelia Ritchie and Ritchie Trust No. 4 provided through a gift from the Robinson Family Fund, 1996.2.12.
Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903). Bathing in Front of the Port of Pont-Aven, 1886. Oil on canvas. 31 7/8 x 23 1/2 inches. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Hugo N. Dixon, 1975.30.
December 1, 2019 – March 22, 2020
Located on the second floor of The Baker Museum
Monet to Matisse features more than 70 paintings and pastel drawings from the renowned collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee. The exhibition includes landscapes, portraits, interiors and still lifes by leaders of French Impressionism: Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley, as well as works by noted American Mary Cassatt. Major paintings by Post-Impressionist artists Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Marc Chagall and Georges Braque complete the exhibition.
Monet to Matisse is an expansive view of 19th-century French painting and its influences. It is a story of artistic freedom and the shift from stilted academic historicism to near abstraction. Paintings by artists known as the Barbizon School, a generation older than the Impressionists, introduce the exhibition. Noted for an emphasis on rural imagery, these canvases portray romanticized images of peasants in charming scenes executed in a customary palette. By the 1870s, a new generation of artist rejected this tradition.
In 1874, a group of young painters—including Monet, Pissarro, Sisley and Renoir—organized an exhibition independent of the official French Salon, which did not approve of their new style. Called “Impressionists” because their paintings appeared to capture a fleeting vision of light on a subject rather than the thing itself, the artists often worked outdoors. Impressionism is characterized by quick brushwork and unblended paint applied directly to the canvas, creating shape and volume through the contrast of colors.
Organized thematically, the subject matter of Monet to Matisse ranges from shimmering seacoasts and sun-bathed rural Normandy to lively Parisians socializing in cafés, attending the ballet or strolling leisurely on the city’s newly renovated grand boulevards. Landscapes and seascapes fill the gallery walls with glorious colors and light, while interior views capture the vivacity of modern Paris.
Associated Events
The Impressionist Revolution: Forty Years of French Art at the Dixon
January 29, 2020 • 10am
This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Collier County Tourist Development Council. Organized by the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, for Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum.