Renoir Exhibit Opens May 28
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Impressionist art has proven to be a hit among the Korean audience, as the Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh retrospectives drew record crowds to the Seoul Museum of Art in the last two years.
A new exhibition featuring works by Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) will open May 28 in Seoul, hoping to satisfy the audience's appetite for masterpieces by Impressionism's greatest painters.
``Renoir: Promise of Happiness'' will feature 118 artworks, including 70 oil paintings, through Sept. 13 at the Seoul Museum of Art, downtown Seoul.
Seo Soun-jou, commissioner of the Renoir exhibition, said this is the biggest retrospective of the French painter's works since a show held at the Grand-Palais, Paris in 1985.
Renoir, a leading figure in the Impressionist movement, is famous for celebrating beauty in his art. The Seoul exhibition will boast of masterpieces, such as, ``A Dance in the Country'' (1883), ``The Swing'' (1876), ``Study: Torso, effect of sunlight'' (1875-1876), ``Young Girls at the Piano'' (1892) and ``Claude Renoir in a Clown Costume'' (1909).
The artworks for the exhibition were collected from renowned museums such as Musee D'Orsay and Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris, National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and other public art museums and private collections in the United States, Japan, France, Switzerland and Netherlands.
Organizers hope the selection of paintings will somehow convey the essence of Renoir's art. The exhibition is divided into eight themes, ``Happiness of Life;'' family portraits; Renoir's women; bathers and nudes; portraits of Renoir's art dealers; landscapes and still lifes; works on paper; and Albert Andre's portraits of Renoir.
Born in 1841 to a working class family in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, Renoir did not have an easy life. As a painter, he had difficulty finding money to buy paint, but his dazzling artworks never showed signs of hardships or depression. ``If a painting is not a pleasure to me, I will certainly not do it,'' Renoir was once quoted as saying.
Renoir's artworks depicting the beauty of life, and filled with warm colors and light, are expected to make viewers forget their worries and lift their spirits.
``Now, we are experiencing financial hardship, what is called the global financial crisis. However, beyond the age, Renoir shows us optimistic and positive images through his work in developing color effects. Like his words, `Painting should be the gift of joy to make clear the soul,' his art philosophy enables us to think about `what is true happiness,' the true joy,'' Seo said.
The exhibition is organized by the Seoul Museum of Art, SBS and The Hankook Ilbo, sister company of The Korea Times. This is the same team that organized the retrospectives for Monet, Van Gogh, Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso. The Monet exhibition attracted 420,000 visitors in 2007, while the Van Gogh exhibition drew 810,000 visitors last year.
Tickets are 12,000 won for adults (19-64 years), 10,000 won for students (13-18 years) and 8,000 won for children (7-12 years). Opening hours 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Visit www.renoirseoul.com.