The exhibition, titled "Light, Nature, Freedom. Pioneers of Landscape: From Barbizon to the Impressionists," brings together 66 original works, including paintings, drawings, watercolors, and lithographs from private Italian and French collections. From November 28th to February 1st, the Polo Museale Padiglione Tavolara in Sassari will host a journey through the movement born in Paris in 1874 that forever changed the way we look at the world.
The exhibition is curated by the art critic Alberto Bertuzzi and promoted by Aurea Natur Cultural Association with the support of the Fondazione di Sardegna and the Municipality of Sassari,
The exhibition, divided into three sections – Before Barbizon, The Barbizon School and Impressionism and Beyond – spans a century of art history , from the romantic landscapes of Eugène Isabey and Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot to the plein air views of Eugène Boudin and Charles-François Daubigny, up to the masterpieces of the masters Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Berthe Morisot.
Among the most anticipated works, Monet's oil painting, Tempête à Saint-Adresse (ca. 1857), a rare example of his early phase, stands out. The section dedicated to portraits features works by Henri Gervex, Paul César Helleu, and the Italian Giovanni Boldini, represented by the refined pastel Seated Woman with a Fan (1890).
"Impressionism was not just a pictorial movement," explains curator Bertuzzi, "but a true visual and cultural revolution, which freed art from academic dogma and restored the truth of natural light to the world."