Monet To Dali: Modern Masters From Cleveland Museum

One of several CMA traveling exhibition series, From Monet to Dali: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art, drew 487,789 visitors in Asia with venues in Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing. On the North American leg of the tour, the exhibition drew 429,495 visitors in Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Nashville and Utah.

“As we continue on our $350 million renovation and expansion project and eagerly anticipate our full reopening in 2012, CMA is honored to share its collection with audiences around the world,” said CMA Director Timothy Rub. “Having our permanent collection travel the globe is a unique and once in a lifetime opportunity to share our wealth of art with those who may never have the opportunity to travel to Cleveland. We are proud to partner with the Detroit Institute of Art at this exciting time.”

Monet to Dali, organized by CMA and curated by William H. Robinson comprises over 70 of CMA’s most highly acclaimed 19th- and 20th-century masterpieces consisting of paintings and sculpture that demonstrate key examples from the European modernist movement. Organized into four groupings, this exhibition covers a century of art making from 1864 to 1964 and showcases important work by the major Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, early modern sculptors and avant-garde artists interested in Dadaism, Cubism and Surrealism. Most notably, the exhibition includes key works by Monet, Cezanne, van Gogh, Rodin, Picasso, Dali and other renowned artists.

The exhibition is divided into the following groupings: The Impressionist Epoch; Post-Impressionism; Early Modernist Sculpture; and The Age of the Avant-Gardes. Highlights include: Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s (French, 1841–1919) Romaine Lacaux (1864); Claude Monet’s (French, 1840–1926) The Red Kerchief: Portrait of Mme. Monet (1868–70); Berthe Morisot’s (French, 1841–1895) Reading (1873); Auguste Rodin’s (French, 1840–1917) Heroic Head of Pierre de Wiessant, One of the Burghers of Calais (1886); Vincent van Gogh’s (Dutch, 1853–1890) Poplars at Saint-Remy (1889); Paul Gauguin’s (French, 1848–1903) In the Waves (1889); Paul Cezanne’s (French, 1839–1906) The Brook (c. 1895–1900); Pablo Picasso’s (Spanish, 1881–1973) Bottle, Glass, and Fork (1911–12); Amedeo Modigliani’s (Italian, 1884–1920) Portrait of a Woman (c. 1917–18); Henri Matisse’s (French, 1869–1954) Festival of Flowers, Nice (1923); The exhibition returned home, and made its U.S. debut, at The Cleveland Museum of Art in October 2007, before traveling to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, in February 2008, and then Salt Lake City. The works will return to be installed in the permanent collection galleries of The Cleveland Museum of Art in early 2009.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. Additional support comes from the Ohio Arts Council, which funds CMA with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Building and Expansion Project

Since The Cleveland Museum of Art opened in 1916, the museum has grown into a complicated mosaic of buildings, including additions built in 1958, 1971, and 1983. The heart of the original museum building—its grand rotunda and garden and armor courts—became peripheral as the layout of the later buildings complicated the circulation plan.

As a result of strategic planning, begun in 1995, the museum addressed future operating needs, including the exhibition and preservation of the collection, and focused on improvements to mechanical systems, public circulation, staff work areas, and public amenities. In 2001, the museum selected Rafael Vinoly to create a plan to transform the museum while addressing these diverse needs. With considerable community input, Vinoly formulated his vision: to restore the original 1916 building and the 1971 Breuer addition, and add two symmetrical wings to provide additional gallery space and create a clear circulation plan for the entire complex. On March 7, 2005, the museum’s Board of Trustees voted to proceed with the first phase of the project. Ground officially broke October 1, 2005, for the construction of the first of three new structures.

The first phase of construction, completed in June 2008, opened 19 galleries in the museum’s renovated 1916 building. This fall, the Exhibition Hall and Lobby on the lower level of the new East Wing will be inaugurated with the opening of Artistic Luxury: Faberge, Tiffany, Lalique, on October 19, 2008. The main floor galleries of the East Wing, housing the museum’s collections of Photography, 19th century European Painting and Decorative Arts, Impressionism, and Modern and Contemporary Art, will open in 2009.

The second phase will include the Lifelong Learning Center, the glass-enclosed atrium, and new wings to the north and west that will house additional galleries and administrative offices, the restaurant and cafe, and the renovation of Gartner Auditorium. Groundbreaking will take place in 2009. -- www.clevelandart.org