“Summer in Monaco: From Impressionism to Modern Art”
Admire some of the most beautifully unique pieces of impressionist and modern art at the new Moretti Fine Art Gallery in the Principality of Monaco. The exhibition “Summer in Monaco: From Impressionism to Modern Art” is one of the very first for the Italian art gallery located on the top floor of the Galerie des Allees-Lumieres, and runs through summer until the 1st of September.
A collection of masterpieces belonging to a few of the greatest names in the art industry colour the walls of the gallery. Pieces presented here in Monaco in collaboration with Dickinson Gallery in London, a gallery established in 1993 that rapidly earned its reputation as a leading London dealership for Old Master and British paintings. With almost 400 years of collective art world experience, Dickinson specializes in privately handling rare Old Maters through to Impressionist, Modern, and Contemporary masterpieces, some of which are on display exclusively at the Moretti exhibition.
The exhibition showcases creations by famous names such as Monet, Picasso and Matisse, many of them depicting impressionist but also modern landscapes and views mostly set in parts of France. As the impressionist movement, characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and colour, did originate in France in the 1860’s. Boudin’s painting depicts a seaside scene in “Trouville” in 1884 where a group of vacationers are sat enjoying their holiday, a popular place in France at the time. Whilst Pissarro immortalised a countryside scene in his painting “Ruisseau dans la champagne” in 1872 in Pontoise, an area close to Paris.
One of the central pieces of the exhibition is Claude Monet’s oil on canvas “Près de Monte-Carlo” (1883), depicting a sunny 1883 seascape near Cap Martin. It is interesting to note the swift flicks of paint, so characteristic of impressionist paintings, which make up a whole picture, complete with various colours that create illusions of depth and light.
Other rooms are filled with works by fellow plein-air painters like Boudin, Pissarro, and Sisley, as well as the figurative works of Cezanne, Munch, and Renoir. Modernists and members of the Cubist movement, including Braque and Gris, are represented in the entrance hall way.
As you make your way through, you’ll come across one of the most valuable pieces of the exhibition; “Jeune Garçon nu à Cheval,” an iconic and extremely rare Rose Period painting executed in 1906 by Picasso. It is one of only two studies in oil for Picasso’s unrealized group composition “L’Abreuvoir (The Watering Place),” and the only one remaining in private hands. If you look closely, you will notice that the painting masks another painting underneath, an intriguing trait of some of Picasso’s earliest creations; when creating, Picasso would use an old canvas which he had already painted on, flip it around and begin a new piece. This painting is complemented by a selection of works on paper.
Most of the paintings on display were created by painters of the same era, so through their creations you are able to see how they influenced each other in terms of style. Kees van Dongen was a fellow painter and friend of Picasso, with whom he shared an apartment for a period of time in Paris while they were budding artists. Through van Dongen’s 1949 “Picasso dans son atelier au Bateau-Lavoiren 1906”, you are able to see a snippet of that time; Picasso is depicted in the apartment they shared surrounded by his soon to be famous masterpieces. The canvas he is standing by is one that Picasso gave to van Dongen as a gift.
For more details, visit: www.morettigallery.com
