Europe 1900–1975: Selections from the Museum’s Collection March 4–October 19, 2014
Henri Matisse, Olga Merson, 1911, oil on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment Fund. © 2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Anthony Caro, Orangerie, 1969, painted steel, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Barford Sculptures Ltd.
Gerrit Rietveld, Red/Blue Chair, c. 1920, beech wood with paint, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York c/o Pictoright Amsterdam
Pablo Picasso, The Rower, 1910, oil on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Oveta Culp Hobby; Isaac and Agnes Cullen Arnold; Charles E. Marsh; Mrs. William Stamps Farish; and the Robert Lee Blaffer Memorial Collection, gift of Sarah Campbell Blaffer, all by exchange; and the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment Fund. © 2015 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Otto Gutfreund, Embracing Figures, 1912–13, bronze, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Alice Pratt Brown Museum Fund.
Yves Tanguy, What, 1940, oil on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Collection. © 2014 Estate of Yves Tanguy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Europe 1900–1975 is the first in a series that features outstanding works of art spanning the Modern era. Conceived to highlight the Museum’s exceptional holdings and important loans, this installation includes collection favorites, rarely seen masterpieces, and recent acquisitions.
Works on display range from early portraits by Robert Delaunay and Henri Matisse; to signature paintings and works on paper by Pablo Picasso that define Cubism and its legacy; to forays into Surrealism by Max Ernst, Joan Miró, and Yves Tanguy, among others.
The post-World War era in European art is introduced through works by Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana, and Alberto Giacometti—artists who test the limits of their chosen materials, as well as the tension between Representation and Abstraction. Also on view for the first time in these galleries are major works by Anthony Caro and Judit Reigl that are new to Houston audiences.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, receives generous support from Mr. William J. Hill.