Magnetism of Provence

The Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation, to mark the fifth anniversary of its activities in Latvia, provides a chance to see the works of such legendary personalities of the art world as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Marc Chagall, Raoul Dufy and Pablo Picasso, all at the one venue. From 1 May to 5 July 2015, paintings from Picasso’s Fauna series and his ceramics, Dufy’s Fountain at Vence, Chagall’s Clock in the Flaring Sky, Paul Signac’s Spring in Provence and other works will be on show at the Art Museum Rīga Bourse. Such an important exhibition is being held for the first time in Latvian museum history.

The Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation is one of the partners in the creation of the nascent Contemporary Art Museum. In supporting this project, the Foundation wished to show the development of contemporary art in the 20th century, which is unimaginable without its predecessor – classical modernism, also to be represented among the works of art in the exhibition. In the early 20th century, various new directions in art flourished in France, and though they were disclaimed by some of the new generation of artists after the Second World War, others created a dialogue with them. The 1970s and the later new postmodernism cannot be imagined without these achievements at the beginning of the century. The magnetism of the natural landscape of the specific region, and the particular new, French-born modernist directions, have at various times also been a source of inspiration for many generations of Latvian artists.

LNMA Director Māra Lāce: “The Latvian National Museum of Art appreciates the support which Boris and Ināra Teterev have provided for the various activities of the Art Museum “Riga Bourse” in supporting expressions of contemporary art, as well as focussing on bringing of stable art treasures, which have become 20th century classics, to Latvia. The exhibition Magnetism of Provence is particularly significant in this aspect. The masterpieces from such artists, whose names fill the brightest pages of the world’s art history, will be gathered together in one place at the exhibition in Riga. Each artist marks a particular line of development, where impressionist and post-impressionist metamorphoses, the outlining of symbolism and Fauvism, the transformations of Cubism and other revelations, which have been significant for certain eras and generations of artists, are on show, developing the artistic views and taste of a large section of society over an extended period. The exhibition also demonstrates the importance of this place from which their inspiration was gained, developed and perfected, in the activity of the artists.” 

The exhibition will be an unprecedented event in exhibition life in the Baltic States. In this project, the cooperation partners of the Latvian National Museum of Art are the Musée d'Orsay and Centre Georges-Pompidou in Paris, the Musée Piccaso Antibes, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum in Kaunas. Works from the Belgazprombank Collection in Minsk will also be exhibited. For the opening of the exhibition, the directors of the museums and their leading specialists will honour us with their presence at a conference dedicated particularly to this event.

The title of the exhibition – Magnetism of Provence, is symbolic, as the artists who have spent long or short periods of their lives in southern France, have undoubtedly been influenced by the surrounding environment and created outstanding works. In them one can feel the specific and the special, which is characteristic of the light and colours of southern France and which has been transformed into expressive lines, saturated colour or the contours of images, creating a sense of the atmosphere of the place on the canvases of the artists. The unifying element in the exhibition’s works is the specific nature and impulse of the surrounding environment’s creative transformation into an original, colourful art image. 

The exhibition has been created in close cooperation with the Embassy of the French Republic and the French Institute in Latvia.

Organized by:
The Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation 

Exhibition curators:
Daiga Upeniece, Head of the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
Vita Birzaka, Exhibition Curator at the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE