New Loans make an Impression at National Museum Cardiff

29th November 2011

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales often shares its collections with venues both home and abroad. And this autumn is no different as the French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist gallery at National Museum Cardiff feature two important loans from Germany, as part of an international exchange initiative.

Edouard Manet’s depiction of The Painter Monet in his Studio-boat, lent by the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, 1874, will be at National Museum Cardiff until October 2012 and  Claude Monet’s The Sea at Antibes, 1888, which is on loan from the Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal will be on show until January 2012. Two Venetian Monets and Alfred Sisley’s Storr’s Rock have been loaned out from Amgueddfa Cymru in return.

Both works on display in Cardiff add a new perspective to the works in the Museum’s collection. Edouard Manet’s depiction of The Painter Monet in his Studio-boat, was painted in 1874, the same year as the Museum’s own Argenteuil, Boats (Study), also by Manet. The two artists spent the summer working together around the River Seine in the Parisian suburb of Argenteuil.

Claude Monet’s The Sea at Antibes, 1888, shows the artist’s development of his coastal scenes, and his influence on Alfred Sisley’s Cliff at Penarth, Evening, Low Tide (1897).

Another work of art going on loan is Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s La Parisienne, which will be going to the Frick Collection in New York to appear in the exhibition Renoir, Impressionism, and Full Length Painting, alongside other major works by the artist. The ‘Blue Lady’ will be taken off display at the end of November for conservation and taken to New York in January 2012. She will return in June 2012 and a painting from the Frick Collection will be loaned to Amgueddfa Cymru in due course.

Anne Pritchard, Assistant Curator of Historic Art, Amgueddfa Cymru, said

“Loaning our artworks to museums abroad like these in Germany and New York helps promote our collections to international audiences and in return we receive works of art that visitors to National Museum Cardiff can appreciate.

“We are delighted to have these wonderful Impressionist paintings by Monet and Manet on temporary display. They certainly complement other paintings in our collection and I hope visitors to the galleries enjoy something a little different.”

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales operates seven museums across Wales including National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans: National History Museum, the National Roman Legion Museum, Big Pit: National Coal Museum, the National Wool Museum, the National Slate Museum and the National Waterfront Museum.

Entry to the Museum is free, thanks to the support of the Welsh Government.

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