The Pierre Gianadda Foundation is presenting the "Masterpieces of French painting from the collection of the Pushkin State Art Museum of Moscow" throughout June 2005. The very title of this project indicates that it concerns the highest artistic level of all the museum pieces we have selected. The exhibition covers three centuries of the evolution of French pictorial art, and includes fifty-four works ranging from the traditional compositions of Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, from the 17th century, to the cubism of Pablo Picasso from the beginning of the 20th century. Within the historical framework set by the exhibition, we intend to present key works from the artistic career of various Masters, as well as French art as a whole. Works by Charles Lebrun, Sebastien Bourdon, Charles de la Fosse and Jean-François de Troy illustrate the various trends in French painting of the middle and second half of the 17th century. Mythological pictures by François Lemoyne, François Boucher and Charles-Joseph Natoire, recognised Masters of the Rococo style of the 18th century, and works by Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Hubert Robert, Louis-Léopold Boilly, illustrating the atmosphere of the French neo-classicism of the turn of the centuries are also on show. The first half and middle of the 19th century are represented by the splendid landscapes of Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and the Masters of the Barbizon School.
The second part of the exhibition, which embraces the period running from the second half of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, is quite exceptional in quality.
It includes works of almost all the great French painters of the time – Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Maurice Denis, Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, Pablo Picasso and Andre Derain. This is the part of the museum collection best-known abroad.
The French collection of the Pushkin State Art Museum comprises more than seven hundred works. It includes canvasses from various collections, some of which started to be formed in the 18th century, at a time when French language and culture occupied a very significant place in the life of the Russian nobility. Empress Catherine the Great was herself an enthusiastic collector of French painting, drawing on the advice of Denis Diderot, the great art expert. Her example was followed by famous representatives of the Russian aristocracy, the Yussupovs, Golytsins and Chuvalovs. The next stage in the history of French art collecting evolved in the circles of cultivated merchants. The famous collection of Sergei Tretiakov, who was interested especially in the art of the of Barbizon school, has particularly enriched this part of the Museum collection. The basis for the collection of French painting of the second half of the 19th and the 20th century was laid thanks to the enthusiasm of Sergeï Chtchukin and Ivan Morozov, who bought works of French avant-garde artists of the time. Sergei Chtchukin was particularly keen on acquiring paintings by Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso; Ivan Morozov preferred canvasses by Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Paul Cézanne and Maurice Denis. From Chtchukin’s collection, the exhibition includes the "Portrait of Doctor Rey" by Van Gogh, "The fruits", "What-ho! Are you jealous? "and the" Tahitian in the room (Day of rest)" by Paul Gauguin, the "Lady with fan" and "The violin" by Picasso; from the Morozov collection, there are "At the Arles Café" by Paul Gauguin, "La Grenouillère" and the "Portrait of the actress Jeanne Samary" by Auguste Renoir, "The Bathers" and "The man with the pipe" by Paul Cézanne, the "Frost at Louveciennes" and the "Garden at Hoschedé. Montgeron" by Alfred Sisley.
The Pierre Gianadda Foundation, a centre of great international exhibitions, is worthily presenting one of the most significant collections of the Pushkin State Art Museum picture gallery.
The exhibition catalogue contains all the works on show in full colour, with texts by Mrs. Irina Antonova, the Director, Mrs. Anna Soulimova and Dr. Alexey Petukhov, the Curators.
Selling price CHF 45. - - (approx. € 30.-).
In the foyer of the Foundation:
87 photographs of Luigi the Shepherd by Marcel Imsand
In the Old Arsenal:
Leonardo da Vinci, The Inventor
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