Louvre Abu Dhabi to hold exhibition of Impressionist art

Louvre Abu Dhabi will host one of the most significant Impressionist exhibitions held outside of France, reported The National.

‘Impressionism: Pathways to Modernity’, to be held in partnership with Paris's Musee d'Orsay, is slated to run from October 12 this year to February 5, 2023, featuring more than 150 masterpieces at UAE’s landmark art museum.

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On display will be etchings, costumes, film and photography all exploring the theme of Impressionism, why it was considered controversial in the 19th century, and how it broke ground for future art movements.

The exhibit will feature works by many revered Impressionist masters such as by Manet, Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and Cezanne, along with many more groundbreaking artists.

"Born at a time of profound social, political, and cultural upheaval, Impressionism was more than mere artistic rebellion," reads Louvre Abu Dhabi's description of the exhibition.

"It saw some of history’s bravest and most visionary painters embrace and extoll new ways of seeing, making art, and living. They celebrated this thrilling new reality, representing truthful observations of nature and modern life.

"The result was a fundamentally new and different kind of art, unburdened by artistic and academic convention or tradition, whose radicalism, honesty, and bravery continues to inspire artists to this day."

This exhibit comes as part of four major international exhibitions held each year at Abu Dhabi's universal museum that explores themes common to all humanity.

Currently at the museum, an exhibit titled ‘Stories of Paper’ will run until July 24.

The exhibit focuses on a single material, featuring more than 100 paper-based objects from across the globe on display. Together, they trace two millennia of intellectual, scientific and cultural exchange. The works belong to and have been acquired from 16 museums, cultural institutions and private collections.

Under the aegis of the exhibit, 'Under the Wave off Kanagawa' by Katsushika Hokusai (Japan, 1760-1849) is also featured.

Works include Katsushika Hokusai’s renowned The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of Louvre Abu Dhabi’s latest acquisitions and on display at the museum for the first time.

A 15th century Holy Quran from Tunisia, scribed with silver ink on purple-dyed pages is also on display.

The exhibition is curated by the Musee du Louvre’s Xavier Salmon, general curator and director of the Department of Drawings and Prints, and Victor Hundsbuckler, curator at the Department of Drawings and Prints, with the support of Souraya Noujaim, director of Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management at Louvre Abu Dhabi.