The masterpieces of Henri Rousseau in a unique exhibition held in the Doge’s Palace of Venice until July 5th 2015.
From March 6th 2015
Venice enriches its cultural activities with the special exhibition
Henri Rousseau – Archaic candour held in the fascinating
Doge’s Apartments of the
Doge’s Palace. The exhibition boasts the special collaboration of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris and the patronage of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e Paesaggistici di Venezia e Laguna.
In
Italy it is an extraordinary event that give the chance to admire some of the most famous works of the French painter through eight thematic sections. Hard to classify,
Rousseu is certainly a central figure in the
figurative art between the end of the 19th century and the revolutionary period of the avant-garde movements, famous for his dreamlike atmospheres, his forests and enchanted landscapes.
The
exhibition boasts masterpieces like the famous “
Self-portrait” (1889-90) that the artist considered the first “portrait-landscape” in the history of art, “
The poultry yard” (1896-98), bought by Kandinsky and showed in the first Blaue Reiter exhibition in Munich, “
War or the ride of discord” (1894), painted by Rousseau with that innocent eye that Ardengo Soffici, a great adimirer, defined as childlike innocence. That “archaic candour” also emerges in the paintings dedicated to wild nature and in his famous jungle scenes, of which six works are on display.
The
exhibition Henri Rousseau – Archaic candour doesn’t mean to be another celebration of the French painter’s
naïveté but rather the presentation of a long series of studies started more than three years ago. The project has given Rousseau’s work the right critical and historical light: the artist was a kind of referee for some of the greatest artists of the historical avant-garde movements, for intellectuals like
Apollinaire and
Jarry, for great collectors like
Wilhelm Uhde and
Paul Guillaume, and for many painters who preceded and and went beyond the Cubism and Futurism experiences, from
Cézanne to
Gauguin, from
Redon to
Seurat, from
Morandi to
Carrà, from
Frida Kahlo to
Diego Rivera and not to mention
Kandinskij and
Picasso. All of these artists will be present in the show with works that establish a coherent dialogue with those painted by
Le Douanier in his short but intense creative period from 1884 to 1910.
Opening Times
From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (from Sunday to Thursday)
From 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (from Friday to Saturday)
Full price € 13,00
