A Date with Monet in Wuhan

Text & photos by Xu Kuang

The priceless impressionist C l a u d e M o n e t, t h e abstractionist Pablo Picasso, the fauvist painter Henri Matisse, and Pierre Soulages’outrenoir… A collection of 51 pieces of artwork in different genres, worth over 500 million euros, were exhibited in Wuhan and every piece being exhibited was the original work of the artists.

Zhang Shan, a graduate of the Sculpture Department of Hubei Academy of Fine Arts,who now works in Shanghai,told us about the moment she learned of the exhibit. “I saw the news in my WeChat moments that the authentic work of Monet and Picasso will be exhibited in Wuhan. Then I decided immediately that I’d come back to Wuhan to appreciate them.”On January 14, 2018, she and her friend lined up for nearly an hour to enter the museum. “But this is Monet! It’s worth it even if the queue is longer. ”

On December 29, 2017, the exhibition entitled From Monet to Soulages: Paths of Modern Western Painting (1805 – 1975)was opened at the Wuhan Art Museum. The artworks are the rare collections from the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Saint-étienne Métropole.

It is also an integral part of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Wuhan Art Museum, as well as the 20th anniversary of the French Consulate General in Wuhan.

Before the opening, the exhibition had already become a hot topic of Wuhan citizens’Wechat moments. Only in the first three days of 2018, more than 10,000 visitors attended the exhibition though the average queuing time was more than two hours. This was a scene that had never been witnessed in the past 10 years since the museum had been renovated.

Considering the safety of the artworks and the comfort of the viewers, the Wuhan Art Museum controlled its ticket release on weekends, but it couldn’t dampen people’s enthusiasm.

Like Zhang Shan, many travelled to Wuhan only to appreciate these authentic masterpieces. Some of them even paid a visit together with all their family members. Fan Feng, the curator, was deeply impressed,“Appreciation of the arts requires the proper mentality. With the improvement of people’s living standards, they are expected to appreciate the good and the beautiful more. Art is gradually immersing the hearts of our people. It implies that Wuhan is progressing in both its economy and society, and it also manifests the fact that the social demand for art popularization and exchange has increased over the years.”

“天价”莫奈、抽象毕加索、“野兽”马蒂斯、苏拉热“黑画”，十余种艺术流派华丽亮相，共展出51幅作品，总价值5亿欧元，每一幅都是艺术家所绘真迹。

张珊，湖北美术学院雕塑系毕业，现在上海工作，“早就在朋友圈看到消息，武汉有莫奈、毕加索真迹展出，当时就决定要抽空来武汉看展。”2018年1月14日，她和朋友排队近一个小时，才进入馆内。“这可是莫奈啊，排队时间再长也值。”

2017年12月29日，来自法国圣埃蒂安大都会现当代艺术博物馆（MAMC+）的国家级巨制馆藏展“从莫奈到苏拉热——西方现代绘画之路（1805-1975）”，在武汉美术馆开幕。

这是庆祝武汉美术馆30岁生日的重头戏，也是纪念法国驻武汉总领事馆2018年开馆二十周年的重要活动。

该展开展之前就已刷屏武汉市民的朋友圈，2018年元旦三天，观展人数就达10000余人，观众要排两个多小时的队才能进入展厅，这是武汉美术馆开馆10年来从未有过的场面。

考虑到作品安全和观展体验，武汉美术馆实行双休日限流领票制度，尽管如此，观众排队看展热情依然不减。

像张珊这样从外地赶来专为一睹真迹的不在少数，还有不少扶老携幼、举家前来。这让馆长樊枫感慨不已，“欣赏艺术需要心情，这说明随着生活水平的提高，人们对真善美的追求更高了，艺术逐渐渗透人心。这背后，是武汉经济社会繁荣的积累，更是公共文化艺术多年的沉淀。”

此次展出的51件作品，梳理西方绘画从19世纪初到20世纪末的历史脉络，向观众展示其中丰富多变的艺术形式。……