The exhibition “From Monet to Soulages: Paths of Modern Western Painting（1800-1980）” presents 51 paintings with various genres from collections of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Saint-Etienne Métropole. The exhibition is divided in 6 sections by periods and styles: “a New Approach to Landscapes”, “Figures and portraits in Western Art”, “from the Cubist Revolution to Purism”, “Surrealism, Dreams and the Unconscious”, “the Revival of Material”, and “Between Figuration and Abstraction”.
The “Path of Modernity” of Western Painting of the exhibition starts from the beginning of 19th century, and it extends to the last half of 20th century. During the hundred years, many art styles appeared such as Classicism, Realism, Impressionism, Symbolism, Cubism, Surrealism, Lyric Abstractionism and Geometric Abstractionism. In the exhibition, there are many artworks from celebrated masters: Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Pierre Soulages and Jean Dubuffet. However, the paintings of other artists who have played crucial roles in modern art history are also presented.
