Paris.- The Pompidou Center hosts “Edvard Munch, l’oeil moderne (Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye)” on display until January 9th 2012. The artist’s entire career will be on show. Munch, pioneer of expressionism, was also known for his modern and symbolist paintings. The exhibition’s curators, Angela Lampe and Clément Chéroux, aim to put an end to preconceived ideas surrounding the painter’s life and work. At first sight, Munch is deemed to be a solitary painter, which in fact is incorrect given his constant awareness and interest in the surrounding world. This exhibition is a Major Retrospective of the iconic Edvard Munch
With a collection never before seen in France of around eighty paintings, thirty artworks on paper, fifty photographs and a film, the exhibition sparks questions concerning the artist’s work, as well as his vision of the time. In the main exhibition areas, well–known canvases are set alongside lesser–known ones. The show is presented in a clear and concise manner, allowing the spectator to compare works treating the same subject, but composed at different times. The Pompidou Centre has been able to organise the retrospective thanks to several loans from the Munch Museum in Oslo and other international museums and collectors. Edvard Munch was fully “modern” is the thesis defended by the exhibition devoted to it by the Pompidou Centre, through nearly one hundred and forty works, including paintings of sixty, fifty photographs vintage prints, some thirty ‘works on paper, film, and one of the few sculptures by the artist.
Through this collection, the exhibition Edvard Munch, the modern eye illuminates the work of the famous Norwegian painter (1863-1944) in a new light by showing how the curiosity of the artist in all forms of representation of his time nurtured and transformed his inspiration and work. His experience in photography, film, readings of the illustrated press or work for the theater have profoundly inspired a work of which the exhibition reveals the dazzling modernity. It shows, in contradiction of the mythology that labels Munch a tormented recluse, he was actually open to the aesthetic debates of his time, in constant dialogue with the contemporary forms of representation, including photography, film and theater. Through the nine themes displayed in twelve rooms, the exhibition presents a series of major paintings and works on paper as it has rarely been possible to see them, and Munch’s experiments associated with photography and film.
The Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou (Ther Pompidou Center) was the brainchild of President Georges Pompidou who wanted to create an original cultural institution in the heart of Paris completely focused on modern and contemporary creation, where the visual arts would rub shoulders with theatre, music, cinema, literature and the spoken word. Housed in the centre of Paris in a building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, whose architecture symbolises the spirit of the 20th century, the Centre Pompidou first opened its doors to the public in 1977. After renovation work from 1997 to December 1999, it opened to the public again on 1 January 2000, with expanded museum space and enhanced reception areas. Since then it has once again become one of the most visited attractions in France. Some 6 million people pass through the Centre Pompidou’s doors each year, a total of over 190 million visitors in its 30 years of existence. In a unique location under one roof, the Centre Pompidou houses one of the most important museums in the world, featuring the leading collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, a vast public reference library with facilities for over 2,000 readers, general documentation on 20th century art, a cinema and performance halls, a music research institute, educational activity areas, bookshops, a restaurant and a café.
Unswerving in its interdisciplinary vocation and its core mission – to spread knowledge about all creative works from the 20th century and those heralding the new millennium – each year the Centre Pompidou holds thirty or so public exhibitions plus international events – cinema and documentary screenings, conferences and symposiums, concerts, dance and educational activities – many of which go on to other venues in both France and abroad. Under the rules of the competition, the architectural project to create the museum had to meet the criteria of interdisciplinarity, freedom of movement and flow, and an open approach to exhibition areas. The competition was won by two young architects: the Italian Renzo Piano and British designer Richard Rogers who proposed a constraint-free architecture in the spirit of the 1960s. The supporting structure and movement and flow systems, such as the escalators, were relegated to the outside of the building, thereby freeing up interior space for museum and activity areas. Colour-coded ducts are attached to the building’s west façade, as a kind of wrapping for the structure: blue for air, green for fluids, yellow for electricity cables and red for movement and flow. The transparency of the west main façade allows people to see what is going on inside the centre from the piazza, a vast esplanade that the architects conceived of as an area of continuity, linking the city and the centre. The centre quickly fell victim to the unexpected scale of its success. With some seven million visitors per year, the building aged prematurely and had to close in October 1997 for 27 months. During this time 70,000 m² were renovated and 8,000 m² added, mainly to display collections. This was possible by relocating the offices outside the centre. When it reopened on 1 January 2000, the centre was an immediate, overwhelming public success again, testifying to the public’s inseparable attachment to the site and its spirit. Visit the center’s website at … http://www.centrepompidou.fr