A Trove of Masterpieces
The special exhibition “The Greats of Six Centuries: Masterpieces from the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza,” held at the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai from June 22 to November 12, presents a selection of superlative Western paintings spanning the Renaissance through to post-war European and American art movements.
The year 2023 witnessed a profusion of dazzling cultural exchanges in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai. Commencing on January 17 with the “Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery” exhibition, which launched the second in Shanghai Museum’s “Dialogue with the World” series of arts and cultural relics shows, the municipality has this year hosted a wealth of old and new European art work exhibitions.
The special exhibition “The Greats of Six Centuries: Masterpieces from the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza” kicks off at the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) in Shanghai on June 22.
The special exhibition “The Greats of Six Centuries: Masterpieces from the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza” held at the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) opened on June 22 and will run through to November 12. The masterpieces on display provide profound insight into the evolution of Western culture, lifestyle, and social landscapes over the 600 hundred years since the Renaissance.
“It comprises a selection of 70 paintings from the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza that showcase the diversity of styles, genres and artistic movements which characterize the museum Thyssen. The group of art works include European and American portraits, landscapes, still-lifes, and other genres by such icons in the history of art as Raphael, Rubens, Canaletto, Courbet, Manet, and Van Gogh,” Evelio Acevedo, managing director of the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum based in Madrid, Spain, told China Today in an exclusive interview.
This is the first Thyssen-Bornemisza exhibition ever to be held in China. “‘The Greats of Six Centuries’ also marks the first time the national museum has exhibited its collection of paintings on such a scale outside of Spain,” Acevedo said.
The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum), along with the Museo Del Prado (Prado Museum) and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Reina Sofia National Art Centre), make up Madrid’s famed “Golden Triangle of Art.” Acevedo recalled how, in 1992, when the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum was founded, the Germanic and 17th Century Dutch schools of painting, as well as those of impressionism, German expressionism, and American painting, among others, were under-represented in Spain’s museums. “The Thyssen in Madrid hence came to complement the collections exhibited at the Museo del Prado, renowned for its comprehensive collection of Spanish art, and one of the most outstanding collections of European Art between the 12th and early 20th century, and the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, which houses excellent collections of Spain’s two greatest 20th-century Spanish masters – Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali – as well as works by many other celebrated artists,” Acevedo said.
At the opening ceremony of the special exhibition, the artistic director of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza is enlightening the audiences about the details surrounding a piece of artwork.
Certain masterpieces among the Thyssen collection also give visitors a comprehensive overview of the history of Western painting from the late 13th through to the 20th century. “It’s a way to revisit how life and society in the West have changed over the past 600 years,” Acevedo said.
The exhibition includes many of the Thyssen’s representative treasures, among them the Portrait of a Young Man, attributed to Raphael, Italian High Renaissance painter of old masters and architect who, with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, formed the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. The contrasts between the subject’s pellucid skin tones, white shirt, and brown sable cloak against the flesh colored wall intensify the doctrinal harmony between heaven and earth. Venus and Cupid, created in the early 17th century by Peter Paul Rubens, possibly the most outstanding artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition, presents a highly charged composition whereby, in addition to a frontal view of Venus, seated in three-quarter-length, a sliver of her face is reflected from behind in Cupid’s mirror. The Grand Canal from San Vio, Venice by Italian painter Canaletto, an important representative of the 18th-century Venetian school, presents a panoramic view of Venice and its surrounding areas in the 1720s with topographical accuracy. Fine effects of color and its nuances draw out the contrast between the greenish tint of the water and the azure mass of the sky. The painting also perfectly captures vivid details of everyday social life. The Stevedores in Arles clearly evidences the stylistic change of Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh in eschewing pointillism and impressionist methods in favor of thick, elongated brushstrokes and marked color contrasts.
On the opening day of the exhibition, a visitor takes a photo shot of a painting work on display. Photos courtesy of the Museum of Art Pudong.
Perhaps most noteworthy is the painting Horsewoman, Full-Face (L’Amazone) by French modernist master Edouard Manet, one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life. The painting, a main exhibit in the artist’s solo retrospective “Manet, the Man Who Invented Modernity” at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris in 2011, was the primary image on the poster of that exhibition, once creating a sensation in France. The artist’s use of light underlines, rather than impressionism, Manet’s pursuit of luminosity, expressed in the work’s emphasis on colored surfaces, outlines, and textures.
“The Greats of Six Centuries” exhibition is organized in eight sections that constitute a chronological survey of Western painting. Those genres, artists, schools, and movements – such as portraiture and landscape, Dutch and American painting, Impressionism, Expressionism, and the early avant-gardes, for which the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza is particularly noted – are all to be found here. Located on the second floor of the Museum of Art Pudong, the exhibition covers a 1,600 sq.m. area that forms the main stage for a dialogue between these Western masterpieces and their local audience. An advanced and meticulous lighting design presents the 70 paintings in a setting enabling an impressive experience and a deep connection between them and the audience. “Roaming this space, viewers may not only examine every detail of these masterpieces, but also imbibe the unique temperament of the times they reflect,” Acevedo told China Today.
To facilitate the best viewing experience of this extraordinary journey beyond time and space, MAP has compiled a content-rich guidebook that explains the key works in detail, and which is available to viewers free of charge.
On display at the exhibition entrance is, moreover, a chronological timeline that traces the exhibited collection amid art’s evolution. “Starting from the Renaissance, the timeline also includes the introduction and evolution of major painting styles and schools, so helping audiences to better understand the development of Western art from different perspectives,” Acevedo said. Seeking to be optimally informative, the exhibition’s purposefully designed scenographic settings, wherein key elements and details of the exhibited paintings are excerpted and enlarged for finer interpretations, thus echoing the timeline while enriching the viewing experience.
As part of the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Spain, the special exhibition indeed offers the perfect opportunity for the Chinese audience to appreciate Western masterpieces without travelling to Spain.
“It’s really a rare opportunity for Chinese audiences to appreciate the Western art displayed in the exhibition which presents works by some of the most outstanding and representative masters in different periods across Western art history,” Zhang Gan, a professor with the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, told China Today. Acknowledging the great influence Western art has had on contemporary Chinese painting works, Zhang holds that a good understanding of Western art can also help Chinese audiences better appreciate contemporary Chinese art work.
In professor Zhang’s opinion, the increase of cultural exchanges and foreign exhibitions in China reflects the inclusiveness of Chinese civilization and its readiness to absorb excellent elements of foreign cultures. Meanwhile, this is also indicative of China’s rise as a cultural power with improved cultural facilities, which has made all the exchanges and exhibitions possible.
Acevedo emphasizes the great importance that the museum attaches to its Chinese audience, and anticipates an influx of visits by Chinese art buffs to the Thyssen in Spain, both to enjoy the museum’s Western art collection and gain inspiration for their own characteristic works.
The museum has taken special measures to cater to greater numbers of Chinese visitors, having installed the titles, and also explanations of the paintings on display in Chinese. To make Chinese visitors feel even more at home the museum also employs Chinese-speaking guides that are acquainted with Chinese customs.
In referring to the growing cultural exchanges between China and Spain, Acevedo made particular mention of his endorsement of the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping in March, which advocates respect for the diversity of civilizations and robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. “The rapprochement (among countries), not only commercial and political, but also cultural, between our peoples is fundamental for the better future that we and our future generations deserve,” Acevedo said.
“Undoubtedly cultural exchanges can truly draw peoples from different civilizations close. China’s cultural confidence is also embodied in its openness and inclusiveness since we can see that the cultural prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties were all accompanied by the absorption of excellent foreign cultural elements,” Zhang observed.
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