![Odilon Redon (1840-1916, "Marguerites" [Margaridas], 1901 Óleo, têmpera, carvão e pastel sobre tela, 123 x 149,5 cm Paris, Musée d'Orsay © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowsk](https://www.newcitybrazil.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/24.-Redon_Marguerites-1024x845.jpg)
Odilon Redon (1840-1916, “Marguerites” [Margaridas], 1901 Óleo, têmpera, carvão e pastel sobre tela, 123 x 149,5 cm, Paris, Musée d’Orsay © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski
Some museums and art spaces have been excelling in filling the gaps that geography and geopolitics impose on the country’s general public by bringing to Brazil either solo shows of a varied range of relevant names from throughout the history of art—from da Vinci to Picasso and Frida Khalo –or thematic group shows organized with foreign museums, sometimes exclusively with their collections, sometimes others creating a dialogue with our own artworks. Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) is one such institution. For the last few years, their visual-art program has been focused on expanding the audience for art, through the eye as much as the brain and the spirit, presenting historic exhibitions and shows by contemporary artists, from Brazil and abroad, creating a plural and complex context that goes beyond textbook art history.
![Georges Seurat (1859-1891), "Poseuse debout, de face" [Modelo de pé e de frente], 1886, Óleo sobre madeira, 25 x 15,7 cm,Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / Adrien Didierjean](https://www.newcitybrazil.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/09.-Seurat_Poseuse-820x1024.jpg)
Georges Seurat (1859-1891), “Poseuse debout, de face” [Modelo de pé e de frente], 1886, Óleo sobre madeira, 25 x 15,7 cm,Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Adrien Didierjean
Following up on the success of “Impressionismo: Paris e a modernidade—obras-primas do Musée d’Orsay”—which was presented in the institution in 2012 and ranked as the third-most-visited exhibition in the world that year—the French museums and CCBB now focus on showing a selection of what was called by British art critic Roger Fry as post-impressionism, that is, a plural set of artists who, mostly between the 1880s and 1890s, but also in the early twentieth century, explored the pictorial possibilities opened by impressionism.
![Claude Monet (1840-1926), "Saule pleureur" [Salgueiro-chorão], entre 1920 et 1922 Óleo sobre tela, 110 x 100 cm Paris, Musée d'Orsay © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / Adrien Didierjean](https://www.newcitybrazil.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/27.-Monet_Saule-Pleureur-935x1024.jpg)
Claude Monet (1840-1926), “Saule pleureur” [Salgueiro-chorão], entre 1920 et 1922, Óleo sobre tela, 110 x 100 cm, Paris, Musée d’Orsay © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Adrien Didierjean
With an exhibition design of dark rooms with a focus of light that highlight the colors of the paintings, the exhibition is as appealing for the eye of the curious visitor as it is for the connoisseur. Prior to more-contemporary conceptual movements and with an intellectual distance for those who are not familiar with today’s languages and codification of art, the presented pieces can count on their beauty to create a connection even with the most unaware spectator. It is always a gift to be around so sensitive and sophisticated artworks. But in this case, it seems to be something more to it: with the exhibition of the “more accessible” works of impressionism and post-impressionism, a larger crowd is attracted to the museum and, hopefully, the pleasure of such an experience might be the starting point of a new cultural habit.
O Triunfo da Cor: O pós-impressionismo—obras-primas do Musée d’Orsay e do Musée de l’Orangerie
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil São Paulo, Rua Álvares Penteado 112, São Paulo, SP
Through July 7, 2016
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil Rio de Janeiro, Rua Primeiro de Março 66, Rio de Janeiro
From July 20 to October 17, 2016

Caroline Carrion (1986) is a São Paulo-based curator and art critic. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Sao Paulo, where she is currently pursuing a second degree in philosophy, after having studied management et communications intercuturelles at Université Paris IV (Sorbonne). Caroline has been working in the art field since 2008 in different segments of the market, such as cultural centers, museums and art galleries. She has developed and coordinated the production of exhibitions, integrated publishing projects on contemporary art and has extensive experience with cultural journalism and institutional communication. In 2015, she curated “Eccoci!,” an urban-intervention project by artist Berna Reale held in public areas of scarce touristic access in Venice, during the opening and closing weeks of the 56th Venice Biennale; and was one of the emergent guest curators of the Prêmio CNI SESI SENAI Marcantonio Vilaça para as Artes Plásticas. She is the author of texts for exhibitions and artists books, presented in Brazil and abroad; and is a member of the PIPA prize 2016 Nominating Committee. She regularly writes for Newcity Brazil, and collaborates with the contemporary art platform My Art Guides.
Contact: [email protected]