©Joaquín Sorolla. María con sombrero, 1910. Private collection.
The expression Belle Époque encompasses the period from the last decades of the 19th century to the first two decades of the 20th century. On an artistic scope, this period corresponds to the successful height of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and the first Avant-garde pieces. However, this exhibition focuses on one very specific element, portrait, in order to explain the mood which went from an initial euphoria, with an intense economic growth, to disenchantment and a final and acute anxiety, after the First World War. The exhibition has brought together nearly 100 works from about 12 artists such as Édouard Manet, Ramon Casas, Edvard Munch, Max Oppenheimer, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele or Ernst L. Kirschner, among others. These works are divided into nine scopes: Self-portraits, Society portraits, Temperament and character, Group portraits, Moods and conversations, Plein air portraits, Toulouse-Lautrec, The portrait as symbol and The Crisis. While observing them, viewers can unravel the iconographic and psychological keys to this period, which was fundamental for the construction of the modern spirit.
The expression Belle Époque encompasses the period from the last decades of the 19th century to the first two decades of the 20th century. On an artistic scope, this period corresponds to the successful height of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and the first Avant-garde pieces. However, this exhibition focuses on one very specific element, portrait, in order to explain the mood which went from an initial euphoria, with an intense economic growth, to disenchantment and a final and acute anxiety, after the First World War. The exhibition has brought together nearly 100 works from about 12 artists such as Édouard Manet, Ramon Casas, Edvard Munch, Max Oppenheimer, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele or Ernst L. Kirschner, among others. These works are divided into nine scopes: Self-portraits, Society portraits, Temperament and character, Group portraits, Moods and conversations, Plein air portraits, Toulouse-Lautrec, The portrait as symbol and The Crisis. While observing them, viewers can unravel the iconographic and psychological keys to this period, which was fundamental for the construction of the modern spirit.
