Cézanne to Giacometti: Highlights from Museum Berggruen / Neue National Galerie

Cézanne to Giacometti: Highlights from Museum Berggruen / Neue Nationalgalerie marks the first time works from this internationally significant collection will be seen in Australia. The exhibition presents a journey through the dynamic changes in European and Australian art in the twentieth century.

This exhibition examines the moments of contact and exchange between groundbreaking European artists and their Australian counterparts. The avant-garde visions of Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Alberto Giacometti shaped twentieth-century modern art in Europe. Australian artists such as Russell Drysdale, Grace Cossington Smith, John Passmore, and Dorrit Black brought their ideas and style back to Australia, transforming Australian art in parallel.

Bringing together over 80 works from the Berggruen collection with over 75 works from the National Gallery’s collection, this exhibition illustrates how social connection and networks acted as driving forces during the development of international and Australian Modernism. This conversation will offer an expansive exhibition experience, introducing audiences to the artistic revolutions in perspective, colour, subject matter and materials that occurred over a 100-year period in Europe and Australia.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with Museum Berggruen, Berlin. One of the most significant hubs of modern art in Germany, the Berggruen collection originates from the prominent gallerist and passionate collector Heinz Berggruen (1914–2007). Berggruen, born and raised in Berlin, spent more than half a century living in Paris, building a truly unique collection.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication celebrating the significant works from Museum Berggruen and National Gallery collections. It features a major curatorial essay by David Greenhalgh, Curator, National Gallery, Natalie Zimmer, Curator, Museum Berggruen and Deirdre Cannon, Assistant Curator, National Gallery.

Exhibition organised in partnership with Berlin’s Museum Berggruen / Neue Nationalgalerie.