For a few weeks, the Albertina will make it possible for its visitors to cast their eyes on an archive of dreams. The Musée d’Orsay will unlock its vaults from 30 January to 3 May 2015 and surrender 130 precious gems of its graphic art to the gaze of the general public in Vienna. Pastels by Edgar Degas, Georges Seurat and Odilon Redon; gouaches by Honoré Daumier and Gustave Moreau; watercolours by Paul Cézanne, along with works by the salon artists who were held in high regard at the time. These works represent a broad panorama of the French art of drawing. Seminal exponents of realism take their place beside works by renowned impressionist artists; magical, suggestive works of symbolism, such as noirs by Odilon Redon, are joined by the no less abstruse and yet pointillist chalk sketches by Georges Seurat. Sun-drenched landscapes from the south of France by Paul Cézanne find a place for themselves next to the new goddesses of the 19th century: from prostitutes and dancers – viewed from the hidden vantage point that Degas gives us and, as seen by Renoir and Maillol – nudes who, lost in contemplation, remain impervious to our watchful eyes as they succumb to the banalities of everyday life. By contrast, time seems to stand still for François Millet and Giovanni Segantini. Through the frozen poses of the figures portrayed, both artists aestheticise the dreary existence of field workers. In the courtrooms depicted by Daumier, social conflicts of the era are stretched and contorted into caricature, whereas the barricade battles, portrayed on sketch paper by Gustave Courbet and Ernest Meissonier, testify to signal turning points in the political arena. Felicien Rops and Gustave Moreau allow us to glance into the depths of the human soul.
Leading the way through a seemingly inscrutable labyrinth of styles, themes and motifs that collectively held the 19th century art world enthralled is Werner Spies, the former Director of the Musée national d’art moderne at the Centre Pompidou. He put together the show for the Albertina. In the catalogue accompanying this exhibition, countless artists, writers, filmmakers and architects dedicate personal essays on and interpretations of individual works represented in the collection shown to Spies, and in the process articulate their bond of friendship with the esteemed curator.
Curators: Werner Spies
Jean-François Millet
Harvesters Resting or Ruth and Boasz, sketch for the painting of the same title, 1850–1853
Chalk, watercolour and pastel
© Musée d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Hervé Lewandowski
Carlos Schwabe
Death and the Grave Digger, 1895 (watercoloured in 1900)
Graphite, watercolour and gouache
© Musée d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Jean-Gilles Berizzi
Edgar Degas
Spanish Dancer and Leg Studies, study for the pastel Dancer with a Tambourine, ca. 1882
Chalk and pastel
© Musee d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Adrien Didierjean
Edgar Degas
The Tub, 1886
Pastel
© Musée d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Hervé Lewandowski
Gustave Moreau
Samson und Delilah, 1882
Ink and watercolour
© Musée d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Sophie Boegly
Gustave Moreau
Cleopatra, 1883
Watercolour and gouache
© Musée d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Tony Querrec
Honoré Daumier
The Carnival Parade, ca. 1865
Chalk, pen and black ink, watercolour and gouache
© Musee d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Franck Raux
Henri Toussaint
Project for Enclosing Eiffel Tower for the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition, 1900
Pen and black ink, watercolour and gouache
© Musée d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Hervé Lewandowski
Edgar Degas
After the Bath (Woman Drying Her Neck), 1885/86
© Musee d´Orsay, Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais, Herve Lewandowski
Source: Albertina Museum Vienna
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