July 16–October 10, 2021
Masterpieces from the UK’s most significant collection of works by Paul Cézanne will travel to Norway for the first time for a special exhibition at KODE Art Museums in Bergen as part of a unique collaboration between KODE and The Courtauld, London.
Paul Cézanne: Masterpieces from The Courtauld opens at KODE 1 on July 16 and will present a major group of paintings, together with archival material, from The Courtauld’s celebrated collection of works by Cézanne—one of the highlights of its world-renowned holdings of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.
A story of visionary collectors
During the 1920s, English industrialist and philanthropist Samuel Courtauld assembled the finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in the UK, presenting it in 1932 to the newly founded Courtauld Institute of Art.
In a similar way, Rasmus Meyer’s large collection of art was donated to the city of Bergen in 1916. It included a unique group of works by Edvard Munch and highlights from the golden age of Norwegian art history.
The point of departure for this collaboration is a shared recognition of the importance of visionary collectors to today’s museums.
Major loans in an intimate setting
Samuel Courtauld was particularly devoted to Cézanne, acquiring the largest collection of his work in the UK, including seminal paintings such as Still Life with Plaster Cupid and the celebrated The Card Players, which were formally owned by two private Norwegian collectors—the industrialist Gustav Adolf Jebsen and the shipowner Jørgen Breder Stang respectively.
These paintings will be on display in the exhibition for the first time in Norway since leaving the country in the early 20th century and will be presented alongside other major loans from The Courtauld.
This intimate exhibition presents 12 oil paintings in total, of which 10 are masterpieces on loan from The Courtauld. The exhibition will also present a fascinating display of contextual and archival material, including a group of Cézanne’s handwritten letters, penned towards the end of his life in which he sets out his ideas about art.
About the exhibition
The exhibition will be at display in KODE 1 from July 16 to October 10.
The exhibition is curated by Line Daatland, Director of Exhibitions and Collections at KODE, together with Karen Serres, Curator of Paintings at The Courtauld and Barnaby Wright, Deputy Head of The Courtauld Gallery and Daniel Katz Curator of 20th Century Art.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue.
About the museums
KODE is one of the largest museums for art, craft, design and music in the Nordic countries. KODE has a unique combination of art museums and composers’ homes, of contemporary art, historical objects, concerts and parklands.
The museums stewards almost 50,000 objects ranging from paintings, works on paper, sculptures, installations, videos, musical instruments, furniture and works of fine craft and design. KODE has world class collections of Edvard Munch and Nikolai Astrup, as well as several composer homes including Edvard Grieg’s Troldhaugen.
The Courtauld works to advance how we see and understand the visual arts, as an internationally-renowned centre for the teaching, research of art history and a major public gallery. Founded by collectors and philanthropists in 1932, the organisation has been at the forefront of the study of art ever since.
The Courtauld cares for one of the greatest art collections in the UK, presenting these works to the public at The Courtauld Gallery in central London, as well as through loans and partnerships. The Gallery is most famous for its iconic Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces – such as Van Gogh’s Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. It showcases these alongside an internationally renowned collection of works from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance through to the present day.
