Emile Bernard On the Pulse of Modernity   07.02. – 31.05.2015

Emile Bernard: On the Pulse of Modernity

The exhibition rediscovers the artist and assigns Emile Bernard (1868–1941) his rightful place in the history of modern painting. The comprehensive survey of his oeuvre illustrates his diversity and presents him as one of the most innovative, but also most headstrong artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In cooperation with the Musées d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie in Paris, the Kunsthalle Bremen is presenting the first large retrospective of the French artist Emile Bernard, including his scarcely known late works. On display are first-class loans from the Musée d'Orsay and international collections, as well as from the holdings of Bernard's descendants. Selected works by Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec allow comparisons with his famous contemporaries, with whom he cultivated a close contact and in whose shadows he remained throughout his life: Bernard studied with Toulouse-Lautrec in Paris, he developed symbolic painting with Gauguin in Brittany during 1888, Cézanne inspired him in Aix-en-Provence, and after the death of van Gogh, he championed the cause of his friend.

The retrospective follows Bernard's development from the first efforts of the quite young artist past the spectacular innovations in Pont-Aven all the way to his scarcely known late oeuvre.

In Paris the exhibition is presented from 17 September to 5 January 2015 under the title "Emile Bernard (1868‒1941)" at the Musée de l'Orangerie.