The landscapes that transformed modern art
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The South of France’s sun-drenched Mediterranean coast has long inspired artists and writers. The Royal Academy of Arts presents almost a century of artworks created between the 1870s and 1960s, a sweeping look at how the radiant setting reshaped modern art. Beginning with Cézanne, Renoir and Morisot’s early visits to the region and continuing through Monet’s fascination with Antibes and the neo-impressionists’ pointillist experiments with the brilliant southern light, the exhibition builds toward the color revolution Matisse staged with the Fauves, displaying many of his celebrated interiors and sea views. It continues with modern transformations — Bonnard’s decades at Le Cannet; Picasso’s own lengthy stays, complete with his experiments with ceramics; and finally the more abstract visions of Nicolas de Staël and Yves Klein. Travel posters, novels and films round out this survey of the Riviera as one of modernism’s most defining artistic landscapes.
Raoul Dufy, “Golfe Juan,” 1927
