Lovers
Musee des Beaux Arts de Montreal
Henri Fantin-Latour , Grenoble 1836 – Buré, France, 1904
1863
Oil on canvas
98.5 x 131.5 cm
Purchase, John W. Tempest Fund, inv. 1936.658
This ambitious canvas represents, according to the artist’s widow, “a young fairytale princess” who “descends the steps of a fantasy palace and sees before her a young prince charming with his retinue, offering her precious gifts.” What was viewed as the painting’s unfinished appearance—created by its sketchy brushwork—kept it out of the official exhibitions, but it was included in the famous Salon des Refusés in 1863 alongside avant-garde works by the future Impressionists. Among those misunderstood artists were Manet, Cézanne, Pissarro and the American McNeill Whistler, who became the owner of this picture. Fantin-Latour objected to being labelled an Impressionist. His work is at once belatedly Romantic and Symbolist before the fact, and refers to past masters, like the Venetian painters Titian and Veronese, and the Rococo artist Watteau. Neither mythological nor realist, the subject falls in line with the “art for art’s sake” decree of Théophile Gautier. The artist borrowed the flamboyant colouring of Delacroix. Fantin-Latour infused this canvas with a uniquely misty atmosphere. His poetically musical lyricism drew inspiration from the music of Richard Wagner, which he encountered in 1857, putting him well in advance of the craze for Wagnerian opera.
Gustav Klimt, 1907-1908, Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
Vincent van Gogh, 1886; Paris, France: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Francesco Hayez, 1859, Pinacoteca de Brera, Milan, Italy
Max Ernst, 1927, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, 1976
Edvard Munch, 1896, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Estate of Karl Nierendorf, By purchase
Vasily Kandinsky, 1909-10, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, c.1908, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Estate of Karl Nierendorf, By purchase
Max Ernst, 1942, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, 1976
Rene Magritte, 1928Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, US
Pablo Picasso, 1971, Surrealism
Benjamin West, 1808, Rococo
Carracci
Carracci
Carracci
Oskar Kokoschka, 1913
Vsevolod Maksymovych, 1913, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Fedir Krychevsky, 1927, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Kitagawa Utamaro, 1799
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1930
Maurice Denis, 1908
Fernando Botero, 1984
Sabin Balasa
George Segal, 1970
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, 1925, Dada
Rembrandt, 1639
Pablo Picasso, 1933, Neoclassicism, National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra, Australia
Auguste Rodin, 1901 - 1904, Impressionism
Lovis CORINTH, 1921, Gift of Mr. R. Langstadt, McMaster Museum of Art
Dimensions: Image: 17.9 × 15.9 cm (7 1/16 × 6 1/4 in.) Support: 34.2 x 24.9 cm (13 7/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Medium: Drypoint on paper
Max Beckmann, 1918, Publisher: Verlag R. Piper & Co., Munich, McMaster Museum of Art
Dimensions: Plate: 21.5 x 25.7 cm (8 7/16 x 10 1/8 in.) Support: 31.8 x 33.3 cm (12 1/2 x 13 1/8 in.)
Medium: Etching and drypoint on paper
Hans von Aachen (1552–1615): Fogg Museum