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 Details
The Musée Fabre continues its exploration of the major artistic trends that have contributed to the birth of modern art with its exhibition "Alexandre Cabanel, la tradition du beau".
This is the first retrospective to be held dedicated primarily to the work of Alexandre Cabanel, one of the most popular and celebrated artists of his time. The organisers have assembled paintings, photographs, sculptures and cinema excerpts in order to reconstruct the vibrant 19th century in which Cabanel lived, a time devoted to the cult of the precious and the beautiful. The exhibition, awarded the description "d'intérêt national" ("of national interest"), comprises almost 250 oeuvres, many of which have been loaned from some of the most prestigious museums in the world. Alongside the principal character of Alexandre Cabanel, the great masters of the classical tradition and their work are also highlighted. After closing in Montpelier, the exhibition will transfer to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, in Köln, where it will be on display between 4 February and 15 May, 2011.
Who was Alexandre Cabanel?
Born in Montpellier in 1823, Cabanel's rise was to prove dazzlingly rapid. A figure at Napoleon III's court, he became famous not only for his portraits - which were fought over from Baltimore to St. Petersburg - but for his many spectacular works of historical, classical and religious subjects, including Phaedra, Cleopatra, and Othello and Desdemona. The clash between Cabanel's Birth of Venus and Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe was to prove one of the 19th century's great controversies regarding the artistic nude, a confrontation framed within the wider struggle between the impressionist movement and the academic style which would prove the undoing of the Beaux-Arts establishment. Hundreds of young artists received their training in his workshop – including Aristide Maillol, Bastien-Lepage, and Eugène Carrière – who in turn, albeit in their own way, continued his teaching whilst opening the "beau" tradition to new perspectives.
When:
10 July - 5 December, 2010
Where:
Musée Fabre
39 boulevard Bonne Nouvelle
34000 Montpellier
France
Opening times:
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday: 10am to 6pm
Wednesday: 1pm to 9pm
Saturday: 11am to 6pm
(Closed Monday and 1 November)
Click here for further information (external link).
Language
French
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The Birth of Venus, Alexandre Cabanel
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