Paris "Vernissaqes"

Limited in number, and neither too extravagant nor too shocking - such are the Spring “Vernissages” in Paris - a long-established artistic centre of Europe, and a meeting point for internationally-renowned masters.

The spring of 2005 proves no exception: a show of Klimt in the Musee Maillol; “Matisse. Une Seconde Vie. 1941-1954” in the Musee de Luxemburg; and “Neo-Impessionists. From Seurat to Paul Klee” in the Musee d'Orsay, to mention only the most impressive examples.

Henri MATISSE. Vegetable Elements. 1941
Gouache on paper cut-outs mounted on canvas. 65 by 50 cm. Museum Berggruen, Berlin

The Dina Vierny Foundation presents “Gustav Klimt - Erotic Papers”. Klimt, mostly known as a painter - the “enfant terrible” of the Viennese art scene - left at his death thousands of erotic drawings. He combined vibrant colour and decorative figurative ornament, thus producing in his portraits of women the pulsating feeling of life filled with erotic desires. Klimt's models - his nudes, his lovers, his “femmes fatales”: he certainly knew how to draw them in their total sexual availability, and how to attain a representation of desire. The numerous drawings speak of the emancipatory feelings of women, depicting them in all their erotic facets.

Intimate as they are, and not meant for the public eye, Klimt's drawings can be regarded as his diary. The exhibition in the Musee Maillol brings together for the first time 120 drawings of exceptional quality; it is a great event that reveals the most intimate part of the artist's work.

Envelope of Henri Matisse's Letter to Andre Rouveyre, dated February 10, 1943
Ink, gouache and colour pencil. Kongelige Library, Copenhagen

Matisse in the Musee de Luxemburg, displaying the artist's bold and colourful works will create - as the show's advertisements declare - the “art event of the season”.

Henri MATISSE. Zulma. 1950
Gouache on paper cut-outs, collage on canvas. 238 by 133 cm
Statens Museum for Art, Copenhagen

Over 100 works by Matisse are on display in an exhibition which opened on March 16 2005, some of them never before exhibited in France. The exhibition was inspired by 1200 letters to Matisse's friend Andre Rouveyre, whom Matisse first met in the studio of Gustave Moreau. Their later meeting in 1941 launched a correspondence which was really intensive (sometimes they wrote to each other several times a day), and became an invaluable source of Matisse's ideas and thoughts in connection with the late period of the master's creative activity. Matisse also illustrated his letters with sketches. All this gives the viewer a brilliant opportunity to become acquainted with the artist's magnificent archive of letters alongside the works they describe. The whole exhibition sheds a new light on Matisse's personality as well as on his working process.

Grand Red Interior. 1948
Oil on canvas. 146 by 97 cm. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

The Musee d'Orsay tempts the viewer with the exhibition “Neo-Impressionism - From Seurat to Paul Klee”. NeoImpressionists, like the Impressionists, are internationally renowned, and the show at the Musee d'Orsay is the first exhibition dedicated to them held in France.

The artists concerned depicted the world around them: landscapes (from the city, suburbs or the seaside) and contemporary everyday leisure life, seeking their own medium of artistic expression.

George SEURAT. Port-en-Bessin. Harbour. Tide. 1888
Oil on canvas. 67 by 82 cm. Muse’e d'Orsay, Paris

The movement originated from the early 1880s when George Seurat started to study optics and devised the technique of divided colours: the juxtaposition of minimal strokes of primary colours on the canvas created the “optical mix” in the viewer's eye. The paintings by Seurat, Signac, Camille and Lucien Pissaro were first exhibited in 1886. Soon they were joined by Albert Dubois-Pillet, Maximilien Luce, Charles Angrand and Henri-Edmond Cross. The movement spread quickly and was echoed in Belgium (with Theo Van Rysselberghe, Willy Finch, Henry Van de Velde and George Lemmen), and in Holland (Jan Toorop), as well as Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Camille PISSARRO. A Young Peasant Woman Lighting a Fire on a Frosty Day. 1887–1888
Oil on canvas. 92.8 by 92.5 cm. Muse’e d'Orsay, Paris

The exhibition pays tribute not only to the artist-founders of the movement, but also re-establishes the reputation of painters who have long fallen out of the public eye. It is focused around the formal innovations of Neo-Impressionism: two-dimensionality, geometry, rhythm, arabesques, light and colour.

The “TretyakovGallery” Magazine thanks “Connaissance desArts”, Fondation Dina Vierny-Musee Maillol, Musee d’Orseyfor permission to publish the materials in Russian. All are presented in Russian in a reduced form.