Van Gogh, Monet, Degas & Their Times at Mississippi Museum of Art

Sat, Apr 4 - Sun, Jan 10  2021

Located in The Donna and Jim Barksdale Galleries for Changing Exhibitions

Offering 74 works by 19th- and 20th-century masters, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts showcases French Impressionist paintings, along with masterpieces from every important school of French art—from Romanticism to the School of Paris. Taken together, these works exemplify the Mellons’ personal vision and highly original collecting strategies, which provide a context for understanding this unique collection of French art. The exhibition includes works by Pierre Bonnard, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Henri Rousseau, and Vincent van Gogh.

This exhibition is organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Its presentation in Jackson, Mississippi, is sponsored by the Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation, LocaliQ, and Visit Jackson.

About Paul Mellon
Renowned as one of the great collectors and philanthropists of the 20th century, Paul Mellon’s lifelong love of art resulted in extraordinary gifts to three institutions he held dear: the National Gallery of Art, Yale University, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Mellon served as a Trustee of the Virginia Museum for an unprecedented 41 years, from 1939-1979, and in 1985 was instrumental in the construction of a new wing to house his collection of British, American and French sporting art and works by French artists of the Romantic, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods.

Paul Mellon was the son of Henry Clay Frick’s close friend and colleague, Andrew Mellon (1855-1937). Both Frick and Andrew Mellon became known for their legacies as art collectors, the roots of which were formed when they traveled to Europe together in 1880. Paul Mellon grew up in this milieu of collecting and philanthropy and was an avid collector throughout his life.