From New York to Brisbane, 65 European masterpieces have made the once-in-a-lifetime voyage.
At a time when the return of international travel is up in the air, the likes of Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Titian, Cézanne and Rubens (to name just a handful) booked their tickets and landed at Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art on June 12, 2021.
Beginning in the 1420s with Fra Angelico’s The Crucifixion and finishing with one of Monet’s Water Lillies from 1909, visitors to QAGOMA will be treated to portraitures, still-lifes, landscapes, and figure studies from artists who have either revolutionised the art world or changed the way we see the world itself.
From the patronage by the Church and State to the creation of the independent artist, the European Masterpieces collection will trace the development of Western art over the past five centuries. Not only does the exhibition go a long way in explaining the importance and significance behind the works (i.e. how they challenged preconceived ideas and opinions) but it also speaks volumes about Western culture and society, and religion and faith throughout history.
If you have any interest in symbolism, mythology, iconography and the idea of beauty, then this is the exhibition for you to lose yourself in.
But even if you don’t have much of an art history background, the exhibition, according to Max Hollein, Director of The Met, is accompanied by programs, workshops, talks and a major publication so that every visitor, young and old, can take something away from this masterful experience.
Exclusive to Brisbane, this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And since this will be the only tour that The Met conducts in 2021, this is also a huge coup for Queensland and Australia with most of the artworks unlikely to ever return Down Under ever again.
European Masterpieces From The Metropolitan Museum Of Art will be on display at Queensland’s Gallery Of Modern Art from June 12 to October 17.