The exhibition traces Modernism's roots in late nineteenth-century France, beginning with Claude Monet's Lady in the Garden (1867), one of the early monuments of Impressionistic plein-air painting. A scene of urban leisure by Camille Pissarro and portraits by Pierre Auguste Renoir demonstrate the range of subjects depicted by this innovative French avant-garde. Post-Impressionism and early Modernism are seen through a selection of paintings that are striking for their daring flatness and use of color, including Paul Gauguin's paintings of Tahiti's exotic "primitives," and Paul Cézanne's work in landscape, portraiture, and still life. Modernism's continuation in the hands of the early twentieth-century School of Paris can be seen in the work of the great colorists Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard; in fine examples of Pablo Picasso's painting prior to and during the development of Cubism; as well as in Cubist works by Picasso's contemporaries Fernand Léger, Robert Delaunay, and Frantisek Kupka. The exhibition also features paintings by Marc Chagall, André Derain, Franz Marc, Amedeo Modigliani, Henri Rousseau, Louis Valtat, Kees Van Dongen, and Vincent van Gogh. The exhibition ends with the abstraction of Vasily Kandinsky, including his great Paris-period painting, Dominant Curve (1936).

Several of the Guggenheim's contributions to the exhibition are part of the Thannhauser Collection, an extensive suite of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century masterpieces bequeathed to the museum by the German-born dealer and collector Justin K. Thannhauser (1892-1976) and his wife Hilde. Many other works in the exhibition are gifts from Solomon R. Guggenheim's private collection, or museum purchases made under his auspices. Another painting, Picasso's The Studio (1928), comes from The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy. Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) was Solomon's niece, and she transferred her collection and palazzo in Venice to the Guggenheim Foundation in 1976. In addition, important exchanges and outside donations have rounded out these core contributions to build the current Guggenheim collection. Most of the Hermitage paintings in the exhibition originally belonged in the private holdings of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov, two prominent Russian businessmen who each developed world-class collections of French painting.

Buy Online Tickets Now! A receipt will be available at the conclusion of the ticket purchase process. You can choose to have your tickets mailed to you, or held at the Ticket Will Call Desk. Customers who purchase admission to this exhibit and The Art of the Motorcycle receive a $5 discount! The combo discount is only available by phone, please call (866) GUGG TIX.

Customers who purchase admission to this exhibit and The Art of the Motorcycle receive a $5 discount! The combo discount is only available by phone, please call (866) GUGG TIX.