Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The Seine at Argenteuil (detail), 1888. The Barnes Foundation, BF126. Public Domain.
About the Exhibition
“A revelatory installation. . . . It’s a treat to see everything in Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at the Barnes in an unexpected way.” —Wall Street Journal
Two innovators in modern European art, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919) and Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954) were also among Dr. Albert Barnes’s favorite painters. He collected their artwork voraciously over the course of four decades. On view in the Roberts Gallery, Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at the Barnes presents 34 of these works in a display that reflects the expansion of our educational program, emphasizing the objects’ art-historical context.
Renoir was nearly 30 years older than Matisse. As a member of the impressionist group that upended painting conventions in the late 19th century, Renoir paved the way for Matisse to develop his own radical approach to color and form in the next century. Their boundary pushing, in fact, changed the way successive generations of artists thought about color as an expressive compositional tool. The two artists met in 1917, near the end of Renoir’s life, and engaged in a creative dialogue over the next two years that Matisse cherished.
Arranged by artist and time period, the installation shows the stylistic development of both artists across their careers as well as the subjects and motifs they fruitfully revisited. By placing such iconic works in new contexts and juxtapositions, Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at the Barnes encourages fresh perspectives.
Dr. Barnes on Matisse and Renoir
“To live for the moment with Renoir’s paintings is to be in a haven free from the ravages of one’s own troubled spirit.” —Dr. Albert C. Barnes in The Dial 68, no. 2, 1920
“I can always find something that is [Matisse’s] own, is not a repetition, and is in line with traditions.” —Letter to Leo Stein, 1946. Barnes Foundation Archives
Henri Matisse. Figure with Bouquet, 1939. The Barnes Foundation, BF980. © 2024 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Renoir (seated, right) and Matisse (standing, center) at Renoir’s home, Les Collettes, early 1918. Renoir’s Promenade (c. 1905) can be seen above. Photo by Walter Halvorsen. Archives Matisse
Albert C. Barnes with Renoir’s Bathers in the Forest and Leaving the Conservatory, 1932. Photo by Pierre Matisse. Photograph Collection, Barnes Foundation Archives. © 2024 Estate of Pierre Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Portrait of Misia Sert, 1907. The Barnes Foundation, BF565. Public Domain.
Exhibition Organization
Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at the Barnes is organized by curator Cindy Kang and independent curator Corrinne Chong.
Sponsors
Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at the Barnes is sponsored by:
Additional support is provided by the Barnes Docents, Dr. Robert C. Cody, Linda Frankel, Mary Jo Grdina and Walter A. Brogan, and other generous individuals.
Ongoing funding for exhibitions comes from the Christine and Michael Angelakis Exhibition Fund, the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Exhibition Fund, the Lois and Julian Brodsky Exhibition Fund, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Christine and George Henisee Exhibition Fund, Aileen and Brian Roberts, and the Tom and Margaret Lehr Whitford Exhibition Fund.
In addition, funding for all exhibitions comes from contributors to the Barnes Foundation Exhibition Fund:
Joan Carter and John Aglialoro, Julia and David Fleischner, Leigh and John Middleton, Jeanette and Joe Neubauer
John Alchin and Hal Marryatt, Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Lois and Julian Brodsky, N. Judith Broudy, Laura T. Buck*, Elaine W. Camarda and A. Morris Williams, Jr., Emily and Michael Cavanagh, Eugene and Michelle Dubay, Penelope P. Harris, Jones & Wajahat Family, Lisa D. Kabnick and John H. McFadden, Victor F. Keen and Jeanne Ruddy, Marguerite Lenfest, Maribeth and Steven Lerner, Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, The Park Family, Wendy and Mark Rayfield, Anne and Bruce Robinson, Adele K. Schaeffer, Katie and Tony Schaeffer, Dr. and Mrs. Eugene E. Stark, Joan F. Thalheimer, Bruce and Robbi Toll, van Beuren Charitable Foundation, The Victory Foundation, Kirsten White, Randi Zemsky and Bob Lane, Anonymous.
*posthumous recognition