UM exhibition on French Impressionism to showcase 130 masterpieces
The opening ceremony of the exhibition titled ‘With The Sunshine, Across The Sea: From French Impressionism to Landscape Paintings of Macao’ will be held on Friday 2 February at 4:00pm in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the Museum of Art of the University of Macau (UM). The exhibition will feature works by masters such as Théodore Géricault, Claude Monet, and Gustave Courbet. A talk titled ‘Scenery Under the Visions of West and East’ will also be held on the same day. Interested individuals are welcome to attend.
The exhibition will showcase nearly 130 masterpieces, including oil paintings created in Normandy in France by more than ten famous Western artists, such as Théodore Géricault, Claude Monet, and Gustave Courbet, as well as photographs by their contemporaries. With an innovative curatorial approach, the exhibition aims to offer a visual feast to Macao audience. In addition, another section of the exhibition will feature neo-impressionist paintings by the 20th-century French painter André Hambourg, and landscape paintings by Macao-based Chinese and Western artists such as George Smirnoff, Luís Luciano Demée, and Kwok Se, who drew inspiration from the convergence of cultures.
After the ceremony, Li Jun, head of the Department of Arts and Design of UM’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities, will give a talk titled ‘Scenery Under the Visions of West and East’ at 4:30pm in the Auditorium of UM library (E2-G012). Taking the exhibited works as examples, Prof Li will explain how the contrasting mediums of water and oil undergo a magical chemical reaction and give rise to a harmonious effect similar to the convergence of Eastern and Western cultures in Macao. This will guide the audience to appreciate the uniqueness and aesthetics inherent in French impressionist paintings and Macao landscape paintings. The talk will be conducted in Mandarin, and registration is available at https://umac.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6KF3xsxxDm5H13w.
The exhibition is organised by the Museum of Art of UM, curated by the Department of Arts and Design of UM and the UM library, and co-organised by L’association Peindre en Normandie, Les Franciscaines in Deauville, and Ardi Photographies, with the support of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government and the Macao Museum of Arts. The exhibition will be open until 5 May 2024. The Museum of Art of UM is located on the first and second floor of the UM Wu Yee Sun Library (E2) and is open from 10:00am to 7:00pm daily, including public holidays (except the first three days of the Chinese New Year). Admission to the exhibition and the talk is free. For more information on both events, please visit the website of UM’s Museum of Art at https://library.um.edu.mo/museum/en/.