Fifty-one French impressionistic paintings, worth 500 million euros, will be on display in the China Art Gallery beginning Oct. 10, as the kick-off celebration of French Culture Year.
The works are by French impressionistic masters such as Monet, Manet, Pissarro and Renoir, said Feng Yuan, curator of the gallery said at a press conference here Friday.
The paintings include Manet's "The Fifer," Degas' "The Dancing Class," Monet's "Rouen Cathedral" and Renoir's "Torso" All belong to national collection of France, coming mainly from the Museum D'Orsay (please check spelling).
According to Feng, impressionism is a painting genre originating in the second half of 19th century in France. Impressionistic painters mainly focus on instant vision, color, atmosphere and brushwork rather than social history, religion and ethic -- something that made the works revolutionary at the time.
Although the impressionists were misunderstood at the start of the movement, they gradually won worldwide acclaim at the beginning of the 20th century. Now, impressionistic painters are seen as having a great influence on the western art -- even music and literature.
Pu Tong, a senior official with the Chinese Ministry of Culture and also the organizing committee of the French Culture Year, said the French side collected all works for the show during the past three months. They designed the exhibition specially for the Chinese audience. China Art Gallery also published art books with detailed introduction on both the paintings and stories behind the works.
"All the efforts made by the two sides laid a solid foundation for a more abundant content of cooperation in the future," he added.
According to Feng's estimation, the show will receive 5,000 visitors every day, with the ticket price remained at 20 yuan (about $2.4 US), same to common days. To let common audience better understand the paintings, the gallery will invite well-known experts to give lectures, and organize elementary and middle school students to watch the show.
The show, after its conclusion on Nov. 27, will move to Shanghai and Hong Kong.
(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2004)
