Museum  September 3, 2020

Gauguin and His Circle in the Ordrupgaard Collection

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Author: chandra

This fall, the Ordrupgaard Collection, a treasure trove of important Impressionist paintings, is on rare view outside of Denmark. Currently showing at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces from the Ordrupgaard Collection, is one of the most impressive collections of Impressionism outside of France. Their estate and personal collection, now a state museum, is located outside of Copenhagen. While the museum undergoes a renovation, the stunning collection, which masterfully demonstrates the career development of influential Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin, in particular, has traveled to London.

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© Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Courbet painting of two deer leaping in the snow

Gustave Courbet, The Ruse, Roe Deer Hunting Episode (Franche-Comté), 1866. Oil on canvas. 97 x 130 cm.

Wilhelm and Henny Hansen, a wealthy Danish couple, began collecting late-nineteenth-century French art during World War I with the assistance of the art critic Théodore Duret. Their collection began with the artists that would have a profound influence on the impressionist movement, like Gustave Courbet.
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© Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Pissarro painting of a woman on a promenade with flowering tree

Camille Pissarro, Plum Trees in Blossom, Éragny, 1894. Oil on canvas. 60 x 73 cm.

A friend of Paul Gauguin’s early in his career, Camille Pissarro hosted Gauguin in his garden, where they painted together. The more established Pissarro provided vital connections to further Gauguin’s fledgling career.
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© Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Sisley impressionist painting of a seaside marina with boats and clouds

Alfred Sisley, Unloading Barges at Billancourt, 1877. Oil on canvas. 50 x 65 cm.

The collection includes a variety of works created en plein air, including this port scene by Edward Sisley.
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© Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Monet impressionist painting of an arched bridged over a river with factory smokestacks in the background

Claude Monet, Waterloo Bridge, Overcast, 1903. Oil on canvas. 65.5 x 100.5 cm.

Claude Monet’s painting of the Waterloo Bridge epitomizes the Impressionist interest in portraying the changing of the seasons and the subtle shifting of light and atmosphere. These works represented a major move in landscape painting away from realistic depictions of places and towards scenes imbued with more mystery and feeling than facts.
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© Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Eva Gonzales impressionist portrait of a woman in white

Eva Gonzalès, The Convalescent. Portrait of a Woman in White, 1877-78. Oil and charcoal on canvas. 86 x 47.5 cm.

The Hansens included several female artists in their collection, although they were less recognized and valued at the time they were purchased. Works by artists like Eva Gonzalès show the different perspective female artists brought to the movement, whose works tended to focus on more informal portraits of women, as well as intimate domestic scenes.
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© Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Berthe Morisot portrait of a young woman in a hat

Berthe Morisot, Young Girl on the Grass (Mademoiselle Isabelle Lambert), 1885. Oil on canvas. 74 x 60 cm.

Berthe Morisot’s Young Girl on the Grass shows how Impressionism’s loose brushwork and blurring of details can still result in a no-less-accurate, and perhaps more personal, portrayal of its subject matter.
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© Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Cezanne painting of a group of nude figures in blue

Paul Cézanne, Women Bathing, c. 1895. Oil on canvas, 47 x 77 cm.

By the turn of the nineteenth century, artists had begun to react against Impressionism, including Paul Cézanne, another friend of Gauguin’s. 
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© Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Gauguin portrait of a young white woman with bangs seated in a chair with a pink and blue background

Paul Gauguin, Portrait of a Young Girl, Vaïte (Jeanne) Goupil, 1896. Oil on canvas. 75 x 65 cm.

Gauguin’s Portrait of a Young Girl shows how fully the artist had broken with many of his contemporaries, embarking on a Post-Impressionist style that remains highly influential.
Exhibition organized by Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen and the Royal Academy of Arts
Tags
Paul Gauguin
Impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Ordrupgaard Collection
Monet
Royal Academy of Arts
Berthe Morisot
Cézanne
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