The NGV will be the sole international venue for the exhibition, which will showcase renowned art and design from a line-up of seminal artists including Paul Cézanne, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Edward Hopper, Jeff Koons, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Lyubov Popova, Mark Rothko and Vincent van Gogh.
The exhibition will feature around 150 works including some never-before-seen in Australia, and is the largest installment of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series, for the first time traversing the entire ground floor of NGV International.
A multi-disciplinary approach to the exhibition display will see paintings and sculpture exhibited alongside drawings, prints, photographs, furniture, design objects, graphic design and architecture.
The Hon. Premier Daniel Andrews said: “Picasso, van Gogh and Matisse: only in Melbourne will you see this roll call of history’s most iconic art figures – it will be an experience not to be missed. MoMA is one of the most prestigious modern art galleries in the world and its partnership with the NGV is testament to Victoria’s reputation as an international cultural destination.”
Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV said: “Our visitors will be able to experience first-hand the momentous change and creativity in the development of modern art, and consequently appreciate contemporary art and design with greater understanding.”
“The exhibition is loaded with some of the most famous and iconic images of the nineteenth, twentieth century and twenty first century. Highlights of the exhibition include an incredible painting by Vincent van Gogh, one of his most famous portraits; a classic Cézanne still life that shows the radical composition and technique that he developed in the late nineteenth century; Lichtenstein’s ‘Drowning Girl’, which is arguably the most iconic work to come out of the pop art movement; a critically important Matisse painting showing his move into Fauvism; and Dalí’s Surrealist masterpiece ‘The Persistence of Memory’ famous for its melting clocks.”
Glenn D. Lowry, Director, MoMA said: “MoMA’s mission is to share our story of modern and contemporary art with the widest possible audience, to encourage the understanding and enjoyment of the art of our time. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to share these important works from nearly every area of our collection with the NGV and the many visitors who will take advantage of this rare opportunity.’
The exhibition will explore the emergence and development of major art movements and represent more than 130 years of radical artistic innovation. It will also reflect the wider technological, social and political developments that transformed society over the twentieth century, and which contributed to the formation of our twenty-first century globalised world.
The exhibition will reveal the ways in which artists have sought to be agents of change, transforming society and creating new worlds through their work, demonstrating how the development of new materials and technology has enabled artists to realise their visions in inventive ways.
Organised by the Museum of Modern Art, New York in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria. Presented by Creative Victoria.
Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV, Glenn D. Lowry, Director, MoMA and The Hon. Premier Daniel Andrews in front of Mark Rothko’s No. 3/No. 13, 1949
Photo: Scott Rudd
Photograph: © 2016 Scott Rudd
