ABSTRACT
The Art Institute of Chicago in spring of 2007 (February 17-May 12, 2007) showcased an exhibition entitled, Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant Garde. Organized by the Art Institute in conjunction and collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as well as the Musée D’Orsay and Réunion des Musées Nationaux, both of Paris, France, the exhibition brought together works by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre Bonnard, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Edouard Vuillard. The group of artists ranges from the Spanish to the Dutch though most are French. The subjects of the paintings come from all walks of life, especially given the Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and the Fauve’s tendency to represent the everyday and, until then, those considered too lowly to be the subjects of paintings. The collection of paintings, given the vicissitudes of art and war, as well as of circulation of art in global markets, came from a range of private and museum collections in the United States, Canada, Europe, including a signifi cant number of the Gauguins loaned by the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. In sum, this is a transnational enterprise that exhibits a collection of art originally produced by a transnational group of artists whose works now circulate in transnational circuits.
