Impressionism to Modernism: Monet to Matisse from the Bemberg Foundation

June 27 - September 19,2021

From the MFAH: "Some 90 paintings and works on paper from the exceptional collection of late philanthropist Georges Bemberg are coming this summer to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the only U.S. venue for Impressionism to Modernism: Monet to Matisse from the Bemberg Foundation. Illustrating the progression of late-19th- and early-20th-century French painting movements ranging from Impressionism and Post-Impressionism to Symbolism and Fauvism, the exhibition’s chronological display places nearly all of the Modern French masters in context—among them Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Vuillard, Paul Signac, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, and Odilon Redon. Impressionism to Modernism will be on view in the Museum’s Audrey Jones Beck Building Sunday, June 27, through Sunday, September 19, 2021, following its presentation in Switzerland this spring. “Georges Bemberg followed his keen eye and personal enthusiasm for French painting when assembling this magnificent collection. It’s a privilege to be one of the few venues in the world to share these exceptional works and introduce visitors to Mr. Bemberg’s artistic approach to collecting,” said Gary Tinterow, Director and Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, MFAH. “He was a collector of exceptional taste and sensitivity. His discernment is especially demonstrated in his acquisitions of works by the greatest French artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” said Ann Dumas, the Museum’s consulting curator of European art. Claude Monet, Portrait of the Artist’s Son Jean, 1869, oil on canvas, Bemberg Collection. © RMN-Grand Palais / Mathieu Rabeau Henri Matisse, View of Antibes, c. 1925, oil on canvas, Bemberg Collection. © 2021 Sucession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York © RMN-Grand Palais / Mathieu Rabeau Born in Argentina and raised in Paris, Georges Bemberg (1915–2011) immersed himself in French culture and developed a pronounced taste for beautiful objects early in life. He acquired his first artwork—a gouache by painter Camille Pissarro— as a student at Harvard University. Testament to a lifetime of artistic research and passion, Bemberg assembled one of Europe’s largest private art collections, including paintings, drawings, and bronzes dating from the 16th century to the 20th century. He was particularly drawn, however, to artists of the Modern French School; and he had a special affinity for Bonnard’s stylized, richly colored canvases. Bemberg acquired more than 30 of Bonnard’s paintings, reflecting all periods of the artist’s career. Bemberg established the Georges Bemberg Foundation in the late 1980s to preserve the integrity of his collection. Today the collection resides in Toulouse, France, rarely leaving its home at Hôtel d’Assézat, a restored Renaissance mansion built in the 16th century for merchant Pierre Assézat."

On View: June 27, 2021 | 1-5 pm

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - MFAH 1001 Bissonnet Street
Houston, TX 77005
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