GWANGJU — Painters who chased light, masters who turned fleeting moments into something permanent. The brilliant scenes they left behind return to Gwangju this autumn.
The Asia Culture Center Foundation is bringing the luminous moments of the Impressionist masters to Gwangju.
The foundation said on the 22nd that it will host the special exhibition "Impressionism, Brilliant Moments: Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Cezanne" from the 23rd through Feb. 21 next year at Complex Exhibition Halls 6 and 7 of the Asia Culture Center's Culture Creation Center.
The exhibition brings together core Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works held by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It features 21 original paintings by 11 Impressionist masters, including Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Cezanne.
Late 19th-century painters broke away from rigid academicism and the order of the Salon. They chose flickering light over perfect form. They captured moments vanishing before their eyes rather than fixed scenes.
The exhibition follows that sense of the ephemeral, unfolding the most luminous scenes of Impressionist art.
The show carries added significance because it was arranged ahead of the 100th anniversary of Claude Monet's death in December this year. As exhibitions spotlighting Monet and Impressionism continue in France, the United States, Japan and elsewhere, Gwangju is welcoming visitors with a large-scale Impressionist show in step with that global trend.
Monet's signature works stand at the center of the exhibition. His "Pond with Water Lilies" and "Young Women of Giverny, Sun Effect" show how light trembles and spreads across water, air and figures.
Vincent van Gogh's "Poppies in a Wheat Field" also awaits visitors. Its intense colors and rough brushwork carry both the anxiety and the vitality distinctive to Van Gogh.
Also on view is "Woman in a Flower-Trimmed Hat" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, known as the painter of happiness. Its soft tones and warm gaze convey the elegant sensibility of city dwellers of the era, beyond the figure's expression.
"Country House by the Water" by Paul Cezanne, called the father of modern art, is also included.
The first theme is "Water Surfaces and Reflections." It presents light spreading across water, reflections that ripple through landscapes and the expressions of nature caught in an instant.
The second theme is "Cityscapes, Nature and Landscapes with Figures." The vitality of rapidly changing 19th-century Paris and the modern city comes alive on the canvas.
The third theme is "Figures and Still Lifes." It offers a delicate look at the daily lives of people in the modern city, the temperature of their lives and the beauty of private moments.
Related programs are also planned to deepen the experience. A guided commentary program conveys the atmosphere of the Impressionist era 150 years ago and the stories behind the works.
Hands-on art programs will let visitors experience the principles of color and light for themselves. Lectures by invited art historians and screenings of films on Impressionist art will follow.
"Following last year's 'Masters of New York' exhibition, which introduced Abstract Expressionism, this year we are focusing on Impressionist art," said Kim Myung-kyu, president of the Asia Culture Center Foundation. "We will continue to present high-quality exhibitions so that masterpieces loved around the world can be enjoyed in everyday life."
Interest among visitors is already strong. Cumulative advance ticket sales reached about 40,000 in roughly a month since they began. That is twice the advance sales of last year's "Masters of New York" exhibition.
