Saturday, March 22, 2025

Book Edvard Munch Portraits

Edvard Munch Portraits
06/03/2025
Hardback
£35
By Alison Smith (Editor) and Knut Ljøgodt (Contributor)

Edvard Munch Portraits is a new publication from the National Portrait Gallery that offers a rare and insightful look into the portraiture of one of the most influential artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This comprehensive exhibition catalogue brings together 60 of Munch's most significant portraits, providing an unparalleled exploration of his creative evolution, personal relationships, and the dramatic shifts in the cultural landscape that shaped his art.

Although Edvard Munch is often best known for his iconic work The Scream, his portraits are a powerful yet often underexplored aspect of his legacy. Throughout his life, Munch produced a vast array of portraits of friends, models, patrons, and especially himself, capturing the nuances of human emotion and psychological depth. From early sketches to later, more mature pieces, these portraits reveal Munch's mastery of diverse media, including painting, drawing, and printmaking.

Three Edvard Munch portraits Evening, Edvard Munch, 1888. Oil on canvas. Photo © Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza; The Brooch. Eva Mudocci, Edvard Munch, 1902. Lithograph. © Private collection, courtesy Peder Lund; Model with a Green Scarf (Sultan Abdul Karim). Edvard Munch, 1916. Oil on canvas © Photo: Munchmuseet.

This publication shows how portraiture was central to his art and vision. It informed Munch’s early naturalist style, his mysterious Symbolist works of the 1890s and the vibrant, painterly works he became famous for following his return to Norway in 1909.

“Munch often painted those close to him: family members, friends, artists, writers and patrons. They give us an insight into the people he knew and the milieux he frequented – artistic and intellectual circles that would be defining for Munch’s development as an artist.”
Knut Ljøgodt, Director of the Nordic Institute of Art in Norway.

This publication features full-colour reproductions of Munch's most important portraits, with detailed essays by leading scholars Dr Alison Smith, former Chief Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, now Director of Collections and Research at the Wallace Collection, and by Knut Ljøgodt, Director of the Nordic Institute of Art in Norway.

“Looking at the portraits separately from Munch’s landscapes and more schematic ‘ideas’ pictures, encourages us to consider him as a social being, not just an outsider driven by his own neuroses and suspicion of people.”
Dr Alison Smith, Director of Collections and Research at the Wallace Collection.

Both authors examine the artist’s distinctive approach to capturing both external likeness and internal emotional states. The book essays explore the broader implications of Munch’s portraiture, providing readers with insight into his artistic journey, psychological landscape, and profound impact on modern portraiture.

In Edvard Munch Portraits readers will gain an in-depth understanding of the turbulent times in which Munch lived – ranging from the bohemian artistic circles in Oslo to the German and Norwegian patrons who helped establish his international reputation.

The book offers a close look at the artist’s family, his circle of friends, and the deeply personal experiences that shaped his vision, influencing the way he saw and represented others but also offers some insight into Norway in the 1900s and the rise of the National Socialist Party in Germany, that went on to invade Norway and declare Munch and many other modernist artists, as ‘entartet’ (degenerate).

“As Munch’s works were confiscated from German museums and private collections, many found their way back to Norway, while several portraits were hidden by descendants of the sitters.”
Dr Alison Smith, Director of Collections and Research at the Wallace Collection.

Edvard Munch Portraits is published to accompany the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, opening 13 March 2025, which will be the first exhibition in the UK to focus on this important, but sometimes overlooked, aspect of his works.

The book is available online for pre-order and gives deep insight into the artist's family and bohemian social circles, along with his German and Norwegian patrons and the friends who helped establish his reputation.

Thursday, March 20, 2025

The hidden anatomy of the kiss: Klimt’s red discs through a medical and artistic lens

Figure 1. Red Blood Cells in The Kiss and Related Historical References

Caption

(From left) Illustrations of red blood cells from various animals, as depicted in The Evolution of Man(1903) by German physician and evolutionary biologist Ernst Haeckel; the resemblance between human red blood cells and the red circles in The Atlas of Human Histology and Microscopic Anatomy(1902) by German anatomist Johannes Sobotta; and a color illustration of blood cells from Meyer's Encyclopedia(1902), which was found in Klimt’s study room.

Credit

KU medicine

Professor Im Joo Rhyu, director of the Korea University Graduate Program for Convergence & Translational Biomedicine and faculty member in the Department of Anatomy, recently led a study investigating the medical and artistic significance of the red, blood cell-like forms in Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. Collaborating with Professors Hyunmi Park, Dae Hyun Kim, and Hwamin Lee from Korea University College of Medicine (KUCM) and Sungkyunkwan University Master's student Daeun Kwak, the research team delved into medical literature from Klimt’s fin de siècle era—the turn of the 19th into the 20th century—to uncover why these striking red discs found their way into the artist’s most iconic work.

A close examination of The Kiss reveals clusters of red, disc-shaped forms on the woman’s chest and knees—shapes that, to a medical eye, strikingly resemble red blood cells. These elements breathe vitality into the painting, intertwining the biological function of red blood cells with the psychological intensity of the colour red. The study proposes that the lovers’garments narrate a three-day cycle of life’s creation, enriched with physiological symbolism.

One key historical link is Karl Landsteiner, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered the ABO blood group system. His groundbreaking 1901 paper appeared in the Austrian medical journal Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, where Professor Emil Zuckerkandl—a close friend of Klimt—served on the editorial board. Notably, in 1903, at Klimt’s request, Zuckerkandl delivered an anatomy lecture for artists, shaping Klimt’s evolving artistic approach (Dissecting Klimt, Im Joo Rhyu, 2024). Furthermore, Klimt is known to have owned a widely circulated German encyclopaedia, Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, which featured colour illustrations of blood cells—suggesting that such imagery may have influenced his work.

Further reinforcing this interpretation, the woman’s arms in The Kiss form a shape reminiscent of a heart. The red discs on her chest appear strategically placed near this symbolic heart, evoking the rhythmic pulse of life coursing through her body and the new life she carries. Meanwhile, the red discs on her knee seem to represent menstrual blood—a subtle yet powerful emblem of fertility and reproductive vitality. This suggests that Klimt deliberately incorporated menstruation as an intrinsic element of human development, elevating it to a central motif within his visual narrative.

To examine the impact of these red, blood cell-like forms, the research team created a modified version of The Kiss, titled Kiss, RBC Knockout Kiss, in which the red discs were removed. They then surveyed 300 visitors at the 2022 Ulsan International Art Fair (UiAF), presenting both the original and altered versions. Viewers described the original painting with words like intensity, splendour, vitality, beauty, and young love, whereas the modified version evoked impressions of monotony, stillness, and lifelessness.

Professor Rhyu remarked, “Klimt’s The Kiss is a masterpiece that not only captures the ecstasy of love but also seamlessly weaves together art and medicine.”He added, “By transforming the scientific knowledge of his time into an artistic metaphor, Klimt created a work that continues to mesmerise audiences. The fusion of science and culture remains not only relevant but essential in shaping our understanding of both art and the human experience.”

This research builds upon the team’s earlier study, published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2021, which explored human developmental symbolism in The Kiss. That study concluded that the patterns and motifs in the figures’garments metaphorically represent sperm, eggs, and fertilisation.

The findings of this latest study were published in the Journal of Korean Medical Science under the title “Medico-Artistic Analysis of Red Blood Cells in Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss.” (10.3346/jkms.2025.40.e19)

DOI

10.3346/jkms.2025.40.e19

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Christie's Collection Henri Canonne April 9

Christie’s is pleased to announce the auction of an exceptional group of works from the former Collection Henri Canonne – the legendary Impressionist collector taking place in Paris on April 9 at 4 PM. As a prelude to the evening sale – one of the most prestigious of the season and a highlight of Christie’s 20th-21st Century Art Week – the Ancienne Collection Henri Canonne - Une Leçon Impressionniste auction will take a center stage. Alongside the Salon du Dessin, PAD Paris and Art Paris, Christie’s 20th-21st Century Art Week, which also includes the sale of a distinguished collection of modern and contemporary art, will further contribute to this vibrant moment for the Paris art market. The Ancienne Collection Henri Canonne - Une Leçon Impressionniste sale builds on the success of the April 2024 season. With total sales reaching €24.5 million, Christie’s Paris reaffirmed its position as a premier destination for the sale of masterpieces in this category.

Henri-Edmond Canonne (1867-1961) was a Parisian pharmacist and industrialist who owed his reputation to his famous Valda throat lozenges – first marketed in 1902 from his pharmacy on Rue Réaumur. A major breakthrough in the fight against respiratory infections, these lozenges revolutionized the over-the-counter drug market.

Beyond his success as a bold entrepreneur, Canonne was also a discerning and visionary art collector.

From the 1920s onwards, as Impressionism gradually gave way to new avant-garde movements, Canonne assembled one of the finest Impressionist collections of his time. Captivated by Monet’s Giverny landscapes and plays with light, he acquired no fewer than 40 major works by the artist, including 17 of his most iconic water lilies. Yet, his sharp eye extended beyond established figures such as Monet, Sisley and Renoir. He embraced the bold color experiments of Neo-Impressionists such as Signac and Cross, as well as the broader heirs to the Impressionist movement, from the Nabis such as Bonnard, Vuillard and Roussel, to the Colorists of the early 20th century.

Constantly reassessing his choices and tastes, Canonne did not hesitate to sell certain works to acquire new ones. This dynamic culminated in 1939 with a landmark sale at the Galerie Charpentier, still considered one of the most significant collector’s auctions of the early 20th century. Today, paintings from his collection hang on the walls of the some og the world’s most prestigious museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts in Osaka.

On April 9, the auction will bring back into the spotlight rare masterpieces that have remained hidden from view for over 80 years, offering a striking testament to the renowned Canonne taste.

Among them, two portraits by Pierre-Auguste Renoir showcase his talent for capturing both the grace and intimacy of his models:

Jeune fille appuyée sur la main, painted in 1894 (€2.2-3.2 million)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
La leçon d'écriture
signed 'Renoir' (upper right)
oil on canvas
16¼ in. x 12 5/8 in. (41.3 x 32 cm.)
Painted in 1885

and La Leçon d’écriture, painted in 1905 (€2-3 million). In this work, the young Claude Renoir – the youngest of the artist’s children – attempts to write under the watchful eye of the Renoir family’s faithful nanny, Gabrielle Renard.

A twin version of this work is in the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia – renowned for its exceptional holdings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s masterpieces. This version was also acquired from the French art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel.

Landscapes are another defining theme of this collection, exemplified by

Le quartier de l’Hermitage, Pontoise by Camille Pissarro (€800,000-1.2 million), painted in the same year of the First Impressionist Exhibition. The sale also features a selection of landscapes by Maurice Utrillo, Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy and Paul Signac.

The sale is completed with an intimate painting by

Pierre Bonnard, Femme à demi-nue or Nu se coiffant devant la glace (€350,000-550,000) painted around 1915, and a series of watercolors by

Johan Barthold Jongkind representing his various stays in France, with estimates starting at €1,000.

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From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes

Barnes Foundation

June 29–August 31, 2025

In summer 2025, the Barnes Foundation will present From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes, an exhibition featuring more than 50 iconic paintings from the first floor of the collection galleries by Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and other European artists. Curated by Cindy Kang, this exhibition reflects the expansion of the Barnes’s educational program, emphasizing the historical and cultural context of the works. On view in the Roberts Gallery from June 29 through August 31, 2025, From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes is sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal.

Charting a journey through France, this exhibition examines how place informed the work of modern painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition begins in Paris and its suburbs, dynamic places that were at once semi-industrial, as in Van Gogh’s The Factory, and sites of blooming suburban leisure, as in Monet’s Madame Monet Embroidering. Life in and around Paris and the coastal regions of Normandy and Brittany inspired the radical brushwork, light palette, and contemporary subject matter of impressionists like Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, their mentor and friend Édouard Manet, and the post-impressionists. Several of these painters subsequently moved to the South of France, seeking the warmer climate and dazzling sunlight that intensified their colors.

From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes highlights Van Gogh’s time in Arles and Saint-Rémy—uniting, for the first time, several Van Gogh paintings from the Barnes collection on one wall—as well as Cézanne’s deep connection to his native Provence, with nearly 20 works depicting scenes from the countryside and his family home, the Jas de Bouffan. Finally, the exhibition returns to Paris to explore a new generation of painters who flocked there from across Europe—Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, Giorgio de Chirico, and Joan Miró—and reaffirmed the French capital’s place as the center of modern art.

Creating space for new conversations between works—a critical aspect of education, research, and public access—this exhibition will provide visitors a rare opportunity to temporarily experience these paintings in new contexts and juxtapositions. While this exhibition is on view, rooms 2 through 13 of the Barnes collection will be closed for a floor refinishing project. Following the exhibition, the paintings will return to their original locations in the galleries.

“Featuring a wide variety of works from the first-floor galleries, this exhibition emphasizes the historical and cultural context of the paintings and offers the extraordinary opportunity for visitors to encounter beloved French paintings from the Barnes collection in new conversations,” says Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President.

“By seeing these works juxtaposed for the first time, visitors will discover how particular places—with their distinct landscapes, light, and people—shaped the work of each artist,” says Cindy Kang. “I hope this exhibition will inspire audiences to see these well-known paintings in a new light and with a renewed sense of appreciation and level of understanding.”

The exhibition will feature more than 50 major paintings from the first floor of the Barnes collection. Highlights include:

Édouard Manet, Laundry (1875): In this canvas, a woman washes linen in a flower-filled garden in Paris. A child to her right, as if eager to help, tugs at the pail of suds. Washerwomen were popular figures in 19th-century art and literature. Manet’s good friend Émile Zola, for example, described their tough lives in his novels. But this depiction is idyllic. Flashes of white paint—offset by grays and blues—become sunlight on the drying fabric. After the jury of the French Salon, the annual state art exhibition, rejected this painting, Manet exhibited it independently.

Claude Monet, The Studio Boat (1876): The figure in the boat is likely the artist, who outfitted this floating studio with all his supplies so that he could paint from the middle of the Seine River. Boating culture in Argenteuil, a suburb of Paris, inspired him to have this vessel constructed to his specifications. Often Monet would anchor his boat when working. But sometimes he painted as he drifted down the river, creating landscapes that are more a collection of momentary glimpses rather than a depiction of one specific spot.

Vincent van Gogh, The Postman (Joseph Étienne-Roulin) (1889): Van Gogh probably met Joseph Étienne-Roulin, a postman at the Arles train station in the South of France, when the artist rented a room above the nearby Café de la Gare. The two shared similar left-leaning political views and became close friends; in fact, it was Roulin who cared for Van Gogh during his hospital stay in nearby Saint-Rémy. Van Gogh painted six portraits of Roulin between 1888 and 1889 as well as several of Roulin’s wife and children.

Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire (1892–95): Mont Sainte-Victoire, which towers over the Aix-en-Provence region of southern France, was one of Cézanne’s favorite motifs. He spent his childhood exploring its terrain, and he painted it several dozen times from different vantage points. The mountain also held symbolic meaning to the artist, representing the ancient countryside during a moment of rapid industrialization and modernization. On the right side of the canvas, one can just make out an ancient Roman aqueduct.

Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of the Red-Headed Woman (1918): Modigliani’s portrait of a woman who was part of his international, bohemian circles in Paris suggests how women’s lives had changed by the early 20th century. With her vivid hair and strapless dress, she drapes her shoulder over the chair and addresses the viewer with an unapologetic gaze. Her revealing dress shows how bold new fashions could represent a form of freedom. Modigliani used a thick round brush to describe the model’s flesh, and the textured surface seems to invite touch.

Vincent van Gogh. Houses and Figure, 1890, Oil on canvas. The Barnes Foundation

De Chirico and the Theatre

Serlachius, Mänttä f

15 March to 17 August 2025

Giorgio de Chirico, Sole sul cavalletto, 1972, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Foundation of Giorgio and Isa de Chirico. Photo: G. Schiavinotto — Giorgio de Chirico, *Sole sul cavalletto*, 1972, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Foundation Giorgio and Isa de Chirico. Photo: G. Schiavinotto

A creator of metaphysical art, Giorgio de Chirico’s work in the field of stage design and his relationship with the city of Rome take centre stage in the exhibition De Chirico and the Theatre, on display at Serlachius from 15 March to 17 August 2025. This is the first time the artist’s work is presented so extensively in Finland.

Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978) is known for creating the metaphysical art movement in the 1910s. His paintings depict bizarre spaces and landscapes where architectural elements and perspectives create a dreamlike atmosphere. De Chirico is considered one of the most significant innovators in 20th-century painting.

The exhibition at Serlachius showcases de Chirico’s set and costume designs for the Rome Opera, as well as finished sets and costumes. There are also many of his paintings and drawings from the Foundation Giorgio and Isa de Chirico, including works that have never been publicly displayed before.

The exhibition is curated by artist Hannu Palosuo, Opera Stage Director Italo Nunziata, who has worked at the Rome Opera, and curator Cornelia Bujin. Their direct contacts with Rome’s art institutions and unique perspective on de Chirico’s art have contributed to bringing the exhibition to Serlachius.

A great lover of opera

De Chirico loved opera and designed sets and costumes for dozens of productions. He was a prolific writer and often used expressions related to stage art, such as “we step onto the stage of art” or “the sky like a curtain.” The artist’s personal relationship with opera and art in general is conveyed to visitors through the exhibition’s wall texts.

The exhibition features two productions seen at the Rome Opera: Rossini’s Otello and Vincenzo Bellini’s The Puritans, originally created for the Florence Opera but also performed in Rome. The third production in the exhibition is Vittorio Rieti’s ballet Le Bal, originally created for the Monte Carlo Opera but later seen in Rome.

De Chirico’s set design for The Puritans caused a huge scandal in 1933, significantly changing the role of set design in opera. De Chirico had adopted from the Ballets Russes the Parisian method of integrating set and costume design as an integral part of the opera’s text and choreography. The Florence Opera audience was not yet ready for this approach.

De Chirico did not paint the sets he designed; skilled set painters did. The sets for the exhibition have as well been painted at the Rome Opera based on the artist’s sketches and using old techniques. Costumes made for the productions and outfits de Chirico borrowed for his grand parties will also be on loan from the opera.

Paintings from the later career

The exhibition features numerous paintings, drawings, and sketches from the Foundation Giorgio and Isa de Chirico. One room recreates the atmosphere of his studio home in Rome. There are drawings that have never been publicly displayed before, which the artist drew while sitting in the opera, observing the audience and the stage.

The paintings on display are mostly from the latter part of his career when he returned to the metaphysical and baroque themes of his youth, creating more refined art. The exhibition also tells the story of de Chirico’s relationship with Rome.

The exhibition will be on display at Serlachius Headquarters in Mänttä from 15 March to 17 August 2025. It is organised in collaboration with the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Fondazione Cerratelli.

Publication

De Chirico näyttämöllä | De Chirico and the Theatre

230 x 255 mm, hard cover
approx. 192 pages
Writers Simonetta Antellini, Cornelia Bujin, Lorenzo Canova, Giorgio de Chirico, Italo Nunziata, Hannu Palosuo, Paolo Picozza, Pauli Sivonen (foreword)
Layout Ville Karppanen
Finnish, English
ISBN 978-952-7611-02-9
Serlachius
April 2025
€39

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) was an Italian painter and founder of the art movement known as Metaphysical Art (Pittura Metafisica). This book tells the story of the artist’s intimate relationship with Rome, the city where he lived and worked for thirty years. It is devoted especially to exploring de Chirico’s work as the designer of costumes and sets at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. The book presents an extensive selection of de Chirico’s lesser-known neo-metaphysical and neo-baroque paintings and drawings, which he bequeathed to the foundation bearing his name. Some of the works presented in this publication are previously unknown to wider audiences.

This book and the accompanying exhibition have been produced as a collaboration between Serlachius, Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Fondazione Cerratelli.

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