The Kunstmuseum Bern dedicates an exhibition to the Nabis group and its major exponents

From May 13 to October 16, 2022, the Kunstmuseum Bern is hosting the exhibition Vivre notre temps! Bonnard, Vallotton and the Nabis, curated by Marta Dziewanska in collaboration with Livia Wermuth.

The Nabis group, founded in 1888 around artists Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Félix Vallotton and Édouard Vuillard, represents the beginnings of modern art. The exhibition dismissing the Hahnloser/Jaeggli Collection at the Kunstmuseum Bern showcases its most important works created by the exponents of this movement, revealing its diverse connections with Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon.

The title Vivre notre temps! is inspired by a statement by Swiss collector and artist Hedy Hahnloser, in which she expresses her conviction that it is only through the exchange between artists and creative contemporaries that we can gain a better understanding of the meaning and goals of our generation and leave traces in our present. The exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Bern is dedicated to this important group of artists. Although the Nabis are not bound by a single style and technique, their works are based on the same revolutionary ideas of this era of turmoil leading into the early 20th century.

One of the central themes of the exhibition is intimate space as a source of inspiration. Unlike the Impressionists, the Nabis are not interested in depicting the pulsating life of the city with its crowded boulevards and teeming squares and parks, but direct their attention to the immediate surroundings, showing figures in intimate spaces in the local style, landscapes, everyday situations and still lifes. Their figures are mainly representative in domestic situations, in quiet moments in the bedroom, living room, balcony or backyard. Their works emanate something unusual and elusive and do not have a naturalistic appearance; in fact, the group uses these subjects to explore new forms of representation and new perceptions. The works are characterized by monochrome backgrounds, narrative elements are often missing, and the links between portrait and still life are often blurred. Figures do not occupy space as subjects, but merge into it.

In comparing the works of the Nabis with the works of their most important models Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon, the exhibition clearly reveals their influence.

The exhibition has the support of Credit Suisse, Kanton Bern, Burgergemeinde Bern and UNIQA Fine Art Insurance.

For info: www.kunstmuseumbern.ch

Image: Pierre Bonnard, In a Southern Garden (La siesta) (c. 1914; oil on canvas, 84 x 113 cm; Bern, Kunstmuseum)

The Kunstmuseum Bern dedicates an exhibition to the Nabis group and its major exponents

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