ART

The French Impressionists in Poznań

It is no small windfall that awaits gallery viewers in Poznań. There's no need therefore to go to Paris to see the works of famous impressionists such as Manet, Monet, Renoir, van Gogh or Gauguin. From March 31 to May 13 at the National Museum in Poznań (in collaboration with the Warsaw National Museum), it will be possible to see an unusually interesting exhibition: "From Manet to Gauguin. Impressionists and Post-Impressionists from the Paris museum Musée d'Orsay".

There is no doubt that there is no other artistic school in the annals of painting that has gained such fame and acclaim (including that of the Polish public) as has impressionism and post-impressionism. For on the one hand we are amazed by the staggering prices the media tell us the works of van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne or Gaugin attain on the market. On the other hand though, the art of impressionists for many years gained great popularity throughout the whole world because of its specific nature. Artists of this school, close to the notion of contemporary art through its directness of expression, became very easily understood by the wider public as they represented therefore the daily life of their time, the modern city, its cafes and bars, cabarets and parks and even developing industry (for example the railway).

The famous Musée d'Orsay in Paris, generously agreed to exhibit 45 of these works in Warsaw, Poznan and Cracow, from its permanent collection. It should be emphasized that this is the first (with one exception) such comprehensive and rich exhibition of paintings from this museum shown outside France. Without exaggeration it can also be said that the National Museum in Poznań has had a large input here. It was in fact from its collection (specifically from the Raczyński Foundation collection in Rogalin) that last year, the greatest number of the most important works by Jacek Malczewski, such as Melancholia (Melancholy) or Błędne Koło (Vicious Circle), were lent for a large monographic exhibit, actually to the Musée d'Orsay. After its success, the Paris museum decided to show its gratitude by lending its valuable works to Poland. Thus it's possible to say that thanks indirectly to the collecting passion of Count Edward Aleksander Raczynski from Rogalin, in Poznań today we can view such masterpieces as the Flautist by Manet, the phenomenal Chessboard in a Copper Vase by van Gogh from the same period when his famous Sunflowers originated, or the also very popular in Poland Blue Vase by Cézanne. The sculptures of Degas are exceptional as well, (among them the famous Dancers) or the ceramic works of Gauguin. A true feast for the mind awaits us therefore with these exceptional works of art that stand for such an important watershed in modernism.

M. Piotr Michałowski