Cleveland Museum of Art
September 22, 2019 - January 5, 2020
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
February 25 - June 7, 2020
Michelangelo (1475-1564) is widely acknowledged as
one of the most creative and influential artists in the history of
western art. He was an exceptional draftsman and the up-close study of
Michelangelo drawings is an unparalleled experience. An extraordinary
exhibition coming to the U.S. this fall will bring
that experience to museumgoers in Cleveland and Los Angeles.
Michelangelo (1475-1564) Seated Male Nude, 1511, Red chalk heightened with white.
Teylers Museum
Organized
by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum in
conjunction with the Teylers Museum, Haarlem, the Netherlands,
Michelangelo: Mind of the Master will bring an important selection
of nearly 30 exquisite Michelangelo drawings of the highest quality to
the United States in 2019 and 2020. The centerpiece of the exhibition
is a group of drawings with an illustrious
provenance from Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), loaned from the
Teylers Museum. Many of these rare drawings have never before been shown
outside of Europe.
The
Teylers Museum opened its doors in 1784 and is known as the oldest
museum in the Netherlands, with a collection
that is unique in the world. The collection of Michelangelo drawings
has been in the museum since 1791 and this will be the first time the
drawings will leave the Teylers Museum as a group.
Drawing
was a key creative process for Michelangelo and arguably no artist has
used it more effectively in the expression of human
form. The exhibition will explore the range of Michelangelo’s work as a
painter, sculptor, and architect through drawings, including designs
for celebrated works such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the
Last Judgement, the Medici Chapel tombs, and the cupola of Saint Peter’s basilica, Rome.
Given
that Michelangelo burned large quantities of his drawings, the
exhibition provides an extraordinary opportunity to witness
firsthand a key group of sketches that survived from the artist’s Roman
studio, coming down to us via the magnificent collection of Queen
Christina of Sweden, a fascinating and unconventional art-loving monarch
who abdicated the throne and moved to Rome.
The
Cleveland Museum of Art will publish an accompanying catalog with
contributions from leading art historians including Emily Peters, Julian
Brooks, and Carel van Tuyll van Serooskerken.
Michelangelo: Mind of the Master is organized by the Teylers Museum in collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
