Today at the Museum

Masterworks of French Painting,
"Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet!": The Bruyas Collection of the Musée Fabre, Montpellier

October 17, 2004–January 2, 2005
J. E. R. Chilton Galleries

Iconic works of French romanticism and realism are the focus of Masterworks of French Painting, “Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet!”: The Bruyas Collection of the Musée Fabre, Montpellier. This exhibition gives Dallas audiences an exceptional opportunity to view a collection that has rarely been seen outside of France and never before in the United States.

Comprised of approximately one hundred works of art, the exhibition is drawn entirely from the Musée Fabre and focuses on the remarkable collection of Alfred Bruyas (1821–1877). Bruyas earned a place in the history of art by gifting his formidable collection to the Musée Fabre in 1868 and 1876. This collection includes a significant group of mythically important works of 19th-century art by Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Léon Gérome, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Jean Francois Millet, and Théodore Rousseau, as well as paintings and sculptures by Antoine-Louis Barye.

The centerpiece and the basis of the title of the exhibition is Courbet’s 1854 masterpiece “Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet!” depicting the collector Bruyas welcoming the artist Courbet to the town of Montpellier in the south of France.

The exhibition Masterworks of French Painting, “Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet!”: The Bruyas Collection of Musée Fabre, Montpellier has been organized by the Musée Fabre, Montpellier, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, with the Dallas Museum of Art and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, under the auspices of FRAME (French Regional and American Museum Exchange). This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.


The Dallas venue is presented by Bank of America with support from Dr. Mark and Barbara Thomas Lemmon, Charlene C. and Tom F. Marsh, and Essilor of America, Inc.

The installation and related programming is generously underwritten by the Dallas Museum of Art League.

Air transportation provided by American Airlines. Promotional support provided by The Dallas Morning News .Additional support provided by Marten F. Klop, Gloria McCall Godat, Mr. and Mrs. George A. Shutt, and Dee and Vance Torbert.

Image:
Gustave Courbet, The Bathers, 1853, oil on canvas, courtesy of Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France

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