Those of us on the East Coast of the U.S. have so far been experiencing an unusually mild winter; not so for most of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. In Europe it must seem as though the North Pole has shifted into your back yard.
For those who need to be reminded of winter’s beauty — for one reason or another, Kunsthaus Zürich has mounted an exhibition titled Winter Tales: Winter in art from the Renaissance to Impressionism.
The exhibition not only collects an interesting assortment of paintings and art objects from various times and places, but goes beyond winter landscapes to subjects as diverse as Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow and Dutch still life paintings that focus on food specific to the season and permitted during a time of abstinence.
The exhibition features Brueghel’s Winter Landscape with Bird Trap, (images above, top), credited was the first independent landscape in European art (i.e. not as a background for religious, mythological or other subjects).
Also featured is Monet’s iconic ode to winter, The Magppie (above, third from bottom).
There is a website devoted to the exhibition that features a slideshow of featured works. The images are linked to larger versions. There is also a catalog of the exhibition, with text in German (more here).
Winter Tales: Winter in art from the Renaissance to Impressionism is on view until 29 April, 2012.
(Images above: Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Jan Asselijn, Jan Davidsz de Heem, Gysbrecht Lytens, Joseph Ferdinand Boissard de Boisdenier, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Akseli Gallen-Kallela)
[Via ArtDaily]
I especially love the miniature painted people in the first and second piece.
There’s so much life going on in the Joseph Ferdinand Boissard de Boisdenier piece even though they all appear to be dying in the cold. It’s like I’m witnessing it and theyre right in front of me.
I have seen the exhibition yesterday and loved it. It shows a great variety of paintings from different periods and contexts.
A beautiful piece was this Winter painting of the German Romantic Carl Friedrich Lessing:
http://www.kultur-online.net/files/exhibition/04_1587.jpg
Also very impressive a small painting by Meissonnier: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/detail/Detail_meissonier_jean-louis-ernest.html?noframe
They also had Jaque-Louis David’s monumental portrait of Bonaparte on a white horse http://www.escapeintolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/20101212224039David_napoleon.jpg
A very sensitive portrait of an old Man who embodies “January” in Joachim von Sandrart’s allegoric series of Months: http://www.bildergipfel.de/products.php/der_monat_januar_1642_joachim_von_sandrart
And a beautiful selection on impressionist winter paintings, including one of Monet’s haystacks.
It was a very worthwile museum visit. I am a regular reader of your blog, living in Switzerland. I wnat to thank your for keeping your eyes open for events like this in Europe as well as the U.S.
Susanne
Wonderful. Thanks for letting us know. It’s unfortunate the museum (among many others) doesn’t include more detail about their exhibitions on their websites.
Thanks for your kind words about Lines and Colors. I try to keep my eye on exhibitions of interest to my readers from all over the world (Asia is more difficult because of language issues), but I feel limited to those exhibitions for which there are sufficient images available online to make it interesting to those in other parts of the world who can’t get to the actual exhibition.