Padua, fall exhibition from Monet to van Gogh with masterpieces from the Mellon Collection

From October 26, 2019 to March 1, 2020, Palazzo Zabarella in Padua is hosting the exhibition Van Gogh, Monet, Degas. The Mellon Collection of the French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, an exhibition that brings to the Veneto region the works gathered by Paul Mellon and Rachel “Bunny” Lambert, among the finest patrons of the 20th century. The exhibition, curated by Colleen Yarger (curator of the Mellon Collection catalog) and organized by the Bano Foundation and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, presents seventy works by artists such as Edgar Degas, Eugène Delacroix, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh and others exclusively for Italy: the chronological span of the Mellon collection goes from the mid-nineteenth century to the early decades of the twentieth century, passing through Romanticism, Impressionism and Cubism.

Paul Mellon, son of entrepreneur Andrew Mellon, who was a banker and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (as well as the important collector of art who was instrumental in the establishment of the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1937), studied at Yale and Cambridge and developed a strong interest in English art, but it was not until his marriage to Bunny Lambert, an art enthusiast and staunch Francophile, that the Mellons began acquiring masterpieces of French art.

In addition to many donations to the National Gallery in Washington, the couple gave an important nucleus of French works to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond. And it is these French darte works, which reflect the Mellons’ personal sensibilities and their exceptional collecting taste, that are on display at Palazzo Zabarella. The exhibition opens with Mounted Jockey (“Jockey on Horseback”) by Théodore Géricault and Young Woman Watering a Shrub by Berthe Morisot, which define the genesis of the couple’s collection. On the one hand, Paul Mellon was a lover of horses, and the fact that Géricault had been to England to study the works of George Stubbs, one of his favorite animal genre painters, played a key role in his interest in French art. On the other hand, his wife Bunny’s passion is mirrored in the French artist’s work depicting his sister caring for plants in her family home, characterized by a soft touch and clear color tones that reinforce the simple pleasure of domesticity.

The exhibition continues with a number of examples of French art with equestrian subjects, including portraits of horses by Eugène Delacroix and Théodore Géricault and scenes of horse races by Edgar Degas, whose series of four sculptures is also displayed, and with paintings of still life, i.e., flowers, painted by such masters as Alfred Sisley, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Fantin-Latour, and Odilon Redon, testifying to Rachel Lambert Mellon’s passion for gardening and lorticulture.

Paris, throughout the 19th century was the city that most inspired artists: the works of painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Pierre Bonnard, and Maurice Utrillo reveal both famous and little-known views, festive places, and glimpses of the streets and alleys of the French capital, to which the Mellons remained intimately attached throughout their lives. The review then continues by analyzing the human figure and portrait paintings. Here we synchronize paintings by masters such as Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne and others, in which people are not caught in formal poses as much as in places such as their homes, gardens or social settings. The Impressionist touch, immediate and vibrant, was particularly suited to capturing the effects of water. In the section devoted to this element, Gustave Caillebotte’s A Man Docking His Skiff stands out, in which the artist reveals his great skill in capturing patches of light and shadow, not to mention paintings by Eugène Boudin, Ã?douard Manet, and Berthe Morisot depicting life on beaches at the beginning of the last century.

One of Bunny Mellon’s passions was interior design. Known as an example of good taste, Bunny furnished her homes with rigor and exquisite refinement, welcoming guests such as Elizabeth II of England, the Prince of Wales or lamica Jacqueline Kennedy, who wanted her as her adviser to furnish her many homes. Thus, works by artists such as Felix Vallotton, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, and Raoul Dufy also arrive at Palazzo Zabarella, offering interior views. These include The Chinese Chest of Drawers, a cubist still life masterpiece by Pablo Picasso, which represents the avant-garde’s desire to break down concepts and stylistic boundaries in search of new expressions.

The tour then takes visitors to the French countryside to admire works such as Claude Monet’s Field of Poppies, Giverny, characterized by a wide band of red color dividing the background from the foreground, or as small-scale paintings by Georges Seurat, Kees van Dongen and Vincent van Gogh that transform the rural landscape into an orchestration of atmosphere, energy and pure light. Closing the exhibition is a selection of Impressionist works, with two landscapes by Monet, a portrait by Renoir and one of Degas’ famous ballerinas.

The exhibition opens daily from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., box office closing at 6:15 p.m. Special closure: December 25, 2019. Special openings: November 1, 2019, December 8 and 26, 2019, January 1 and 6, 2020. December 24 and 31 reduced hours from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (ticket office closing at 4:45 p.m.). Tickets: full 13 euros, reduced 11 euros (over 65, 18 to 25 years old, disabled, FAI and TCI members, concessionary), special reduced 9 euros for under 18 years old, free for children up to 5 years old (not in school group), accompanying person of disabled in case of need. For all info visit www.palazzozabarella.it. Below is a selection of images from the exhibition.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pensierosa (La Songeuse) (1875; oil on paper applied to canvas, 46 x 38 cm; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 83.47) © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Vincent van Gogh, Daisies, Arles (Daisies, Arles) (1888; oil on canvas, 33 x 42 cm; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.207) © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Paul Gauguin, Still Life with Bowl (Still Life with Bowl) (c. 1891; oil on canvas, 20.3 x 31.4 cm; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.206) © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Claude Monet, Field of Poppies, Giverny (Field of Poppies, Giverny) (1885; oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 85,499) © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Edgar Degas, The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen (The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen) (model executed c. 1880, mold after 1922; bronze, fabric dress with tutu, and satin hair ribbon, 97.8 x 36.8 x 36.2 cm; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, State Operating Fund and the Art Lovers Society, 45.22.1) © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Edgar Degas, By the Milliner (At the Milliner) (c. 1882-1885; oil on canvas, 61.6 � 73.6 cm; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2001.27) © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Pierre Bonnard, The Pont de Grenelle and the Eiffel Tower (The Pont de Grenelle and the Eiffel Tower) (c. 1912; oil on canvas, 54.6 � 68.6 cm; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2006.44) © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Padua, fall exhibition from Monet to van Gogh with masterpieces from the Mellon Collection

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