This summer of 2013, the Bonnard Museum presents a unique exhibition featuring works from Gauguin to Bonnard on the symbolic, even iconic significance of the nude in the history of art from around 1880 to 1950.
Since the birth of easel painting, the story of Eve has captivated artists from Masaccio to Rubens, including Michelangelo, Bosch, and Breughel. In the 20th century, the image of the first woman emerges as the common theme in the formal and symbolic reevaluation of the female nude.
Whether as the first woman or a singular woman in an artist’s world, Eve is the intrinsic representation of the nude. Gauguin with his idea of the exotic Eve or Bonnard with Marthe-Eve, like many artists, have succumbed to this depiction of a guilty or idealized nudity, primitive in essence.
The exhibition features nearly seventy symbolist, nabis, fauvist, cubist, and surrealist works by Gauguin, Bonnard, Rodin, Sรฉrusier, Denis, Redon, Matisse, Dufy, Picasso, Le Douanier Rousseau, Arp, Giacometti, and Chagall…
This exceptional collection has been supported by the Musรฉe d’Orsay and the Orangerie, as well as assembled with the help of numerous public and private lenders.
