IMPRESSIONISM

PAINTING LIGHT

11 September 2009 - 14 February 2010

Comprising 170 works, the exhibition Impressionism - Painting Light unfolds the mesmerizing world of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting.

In addition to 75 paintings from the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud in Cologne, the show will include an enriching range of superb works from the Albertina and the Batliner Collection as well as loans from private collections and international museums. 40 historical objects, painting utensils and gadgets will convey an idea of an artist’s daily routine, of how he approached his motifs and prepared and executed his paintings. Didactic materials such as an installation for the explanation of optical phenomena or x-ray and infrared pictures will allow the visitor to literally grasp the genesis of Impressionist works.

The focus of this extraordinary and ambitious exhibition will be on the results of a five-year research project which has provided new, fascinating insights into the development of Impressionism and its techniques and modes of painting. Equal importance has been granted to the history and the technology of art. This approach has yielded fresh answers to such questions as “What is an impression?”, “Inside or outside?”, or “When is a painting finished?” - answers permitting to retell the story of Impressionism from a new perspective based on exemplary works by Courbet, Caillebotte, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Pissarro, Signac and Van Gogh.

This exhibition was conceived by the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne.

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