Experience one of Denmark’s finest collections of French art. The Glyptotek’s collection of French art presents masterpieces of paintings from 1870-1925. See works by the likes of Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet og Berthe Morisot.

The Birth of a Movement

In 1874 a group of Parisian artists decided to exhibit their works together in protest at their rejection by the Salon, the city’s official exhibition venue. The group, which included Degas, Guillaume, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley, became known as the Impressionists. Their works represented an entirely new kind of painting in which light and colour were the principal elements. They often worked outdoors, since this provided the best conditions for observing changing light, colours and movement, whether in the open landscape or amongst the teeming life of the city. The style was characterised by vibrating brushstrokes, thick layers of unmixed pigments and unconventional angles and views.

New Directions

The 1880s and 1890s were witness to a flood of artistic expression, both in dialogue with and opposition to Impressionism. The leading figures of the movement, Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh, all embarked on new paths of their own. Van Gogh’s painting became expressive in the extreme, Gauguin moved towards cloisonnist works in bold colours, whereas Cézanne chose the more intellectual approach of simple Cubist forms. Bonnard developed a decorative style of painting with a high degree of intimacy, whereas Toulouse-Lautrec made his mark with depictions of Parisian life in the 1890s. European painting took many new directions, and was embraced by a rapidly changing art market. The Salon no longer had a monopoly on good taste.