With masterpieces from private collections that have never been seen before.
Since the 1860s, a small circle of young artists around Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Auguste Renoir developed a completely new style of painting. As Impressionism, this has become synonymous with an entire epoch of 19th century art. With paintings realized quickly and directly in front of the subject, seemingly everyday scenes and landscapes develop into vivid events before the eyes of the viewer. The moment of painting and the moment of contemplation seem to be inseparable.
The exhibition invites its visitors to engage in sensual seeing and experiencing. Manet's lilacs are just as "smellable" as Degas' physical sensuality is "palpable" in the dancers' self-absorption and Gauguin's glistening sunlight is "audible" in the haymakers.
With 60 exhibits, 33 of which come from anonymous private collections and have rarely if ever been exhibited, the exhibition features works by Manet, Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, and Degas, as well as Berthe Morisot, Gustave Caillebotte, Jean-Louis Forain, Paul Gauguin, and the artist Mary Cassatt, who was a close companion of Degas.