Johannesburg Art Gallery masterpieces, from Impressionists to Picasso, arrive at Fortress of Bard

The masterpieces of the Johannesburg Art Gallery are back on display: this time the Fortress of Bard will host them, on the occasion of the exhibition Masterpieces of the Johannesburg Art Gallery. From the Impressionists to Picasso, which can be visited from February 14 to June 2, 2020.

Curated by Simona Bartolena, the exhibition will bring together 64 works from the African continent’s leading art museum, which has had a collection of the highest quality since 1910, including oils, watercolors, and graphics by the great masters of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Degas, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Corot, Boudin, Courbet, Monet, Van Gogh, Signac, Picasso, Bacon, Liechtenstein, and Warhol, up to the most recent protagonists of the South African art scene, such as William Kentridge.

The exhibition will open with a portrait to Lady Florence Phillips, the founder of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, by Antonio Mancini and will continue with works by William Turner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. And again, with Gustave Courbet’s view of the Norman cliffs of Étretat, with works by François Millet and Henri-Joseph Harpignie.

This will be followed by Impressionist paintings by Monet, Sisley, Degas and the Post-Impressionists, leaving great space then for pointillisme with masterpieces by Paul Signac and works by Lucien Pissarro.

The transition to the twentieth century will instead be marked by drawings by two great sculptors-Auguste Rodin and Aristide Maillol; this will be followed by works by André Derain with whom we return to a more traditional figuration and Ossip Zadkine with a more avant-garde approach. There will also be masterpieces by Modigliani, with his unmistakable elegance of sign, and four graphics and a Harlequin’s Head in pencil and pastel by Picasso. The avant-garde will continue with the sensual and luminous research of Matisse, on view with three remarkable lithographs.

The second twentieth century is the result of recent acquisitions and donations and includes, among others, a tormented male portrait by Francis Bacon, an intense charcoal by Henry Moore, and two pop masterpieces by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.

Finally, the last section of the exhibition will be dedicated tocontemporary African art: an opportunity to learn about a pictorial reality with an important role, but still little known to the European public.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Johannesburg Art Gallery and ViDi srl Visit Different in Milan.

For info: www.fortedibard.it

Hours: Until March 2: weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. From March 3: weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed Mondays.

Tickets: Full 10 euros, reduced 8 euros.

Image: Pablo Picasso, Head of Harlequin II (1971; pencil on pastel on paper, 65.2 x 50.2 cm) © Johannesburg Art Gallery

Johannesburg Art Gallery masterpieces, from Impressionists to Picasso, arrive at Fortress of Bard

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