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| ©Bernd Ahrens Photography |
Closes January 22!
Were you aware that 'Washington Crossing the Delaware', a vast painting by Emanuel Leutze that currently hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, actually has its roots in the Düsseldorf School of Painting?
It is in fact believed that the river depicted in this icon to American history is not the Delaware but the river Rhine.
Under the patronage of Philip D. Murphy, the United States ambassador to Germany and Guido Westerwelle, the German minister for foreign affairs, the Museum Kunstpalast opened an extraordinary exhibition on September 24.
World Class The Düsseldorf School of Painting 1819 -1918 shows the rich and varied wealth of painting involved in the art's movement known as 'The Düsseldorf School of Painting' beginning in the late nineteenth century. At the time, the Düsseldorf School was amongst the leading European schools of painting.
Wilhelm von Shadow, director of the Academy from 1826, was responsible for bringing great students to Düsseldorf; such was the reputation of the training that was happening at the Art Academy that kings sent their best painters to Düsseldorf to learn more about their craft.
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| ©Bernd Ahrens Photography |
To begin the show there is a world map, pin-pointing where the painters who trained in Düsseldorf took their new trained talents all over the globe, from New Zealand to South America, up to Scandinavia and especially to the USA.
There are also fascinating portraits of some of the greatest painters of the era who spent time in Düsseldorf and also wonderful sketches showing how their working studios in the Academy once looked.
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| ©Bernd Ahrens Photography |
Loans for this exhibition have been given by some of the most prestigious museums in the world including the Louvre in Paris, the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago.
There are paintings which have returned to Düsseldorf for the first time in 200 years. At the opening, the curator Dr. Bettina Baumgärtel was clearly touched by the richness of this exhibition.
This is a beautiful show, rich, colourful and bombastic. One Düsseldorf can be truly proud of, with some 450 works of art on show.
It will open your eyes as to the great global influence of the Düsseldorf School of Painting from the dedicated artists of the Düsseldorf Art Academy and surrounding area.
For a peek into the Academy today take a look at this CNN video RhineBuzz gladly helped put together.
The museum is offering 2 public tours in English on:
November 5 and December 17 both at 4pm.
Audio guide also available in English.
The museum is open from 11am until 6pm daily except Mondays and until 9pm on Thursdays.
World Class The Düsseldorf School of Painting 1819 - 1918
Museum Kunstpalast
Ehrenhof 4-5
40479 Düsseldorf
24 September 2011 to 22 January 2012
