The Van Gogh painting 'Bridge at Clichy' (1887) is on show at the Florence exhibition Impressionism: Painting The Light (Impressionismo: Dipingere la Luce). The Italian Palazzo Strozzi museum claims that this is not just another Impressionist exhibition; the secrets of the Impressionists paintings will be revealed. And there are some big surprises to discover…
According to the museum, the exhibition "examines some of the most famous canvases of the last century, looking for clues as to where the paintings were made, under what conditions and, in some cases, by whom".
Visitors will be able to take a look at over sixty masterpieces by Van Gogh, Signac, Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Renoir and others. Diagnostic techniques used by art historians, will answer all sorts of questions to the public. This allows the visitors to become art detectives themselves.
The Impressionists, who were pioneers in painting, are known for their new, free style that captured life outdoors with quick and masterful brushstrokes. Vincent van Gogh is known for this free style. He loved to paint en plein air (outdoors) and capture his view directly on his canvas.
Surprising discoveries
The exhibition shockingly reveals that, despite their spontaneous appearance, most Impressionists works were the result of preparation! Infrared reflectography, which is used to study the layers under a final painting, has revealed a preparatory drawing and series of perspective lines beneath Van Gogh's Pont de Clichy. Visitors will be able to see the ways in which he continued to make changes while he was painting.
But there are some reassuring discoveries to be made as well: analysing the paint content of various paintings has confirmed they really were produced outside, rather than merely sketched outdoors and later transposed in a studio.
The show will also explain some of the practical developments that allowed Impressionists to escape the restrictions of studios and move outdoors, such as tubes of paint, new brushes, and artist's cases, which they used to carry their materials around.
"Painting Light" is the first exhibition ever to address these issues. The show runs from July 11 until September 28 at the Palazzo Strozzi. To read more about this exhibition, visit the special Impressionismo Firenze website.
Image source: www.museenkoeln.de
