Shepparton Art Museum is bringing Facing Modernity: Degas to Picasso to Australia from 23 May to 20 September.
Regional Victoria doesn’t often get dibs on internationally significant art collections, but Shepparton Art Museum has secured the sole Australian run of a landmark exhibition featuring works that have never been shown in this country.
Facing Modernity: Degas to Picasso arrives from Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki with 37 paintings and sculptures spanning nearly a century of artistic upheaval, and SAM is the only place on this side of the Tasman where you’ll be able to see them.
Facing Modernity: Degas to Picasso
- 23 May to 20 September
- Shepparton Art Museum
- Tickets on sale 10am, 23 April here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in Victoria here.
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The exhibition traces the evolution of modern art through some of its most celebrated figures, including Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Paul Cezanne, Salvador Dalí, André Derain, Paul Gauguin, Barbara Hepworth, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. From the atmospheric brushwork of late 19th century Impressionism through to the geometric intensity of Cubism and the dreamlike terrain of Surrealism, the collection charts how artists dismantled conventions and rebuilt the visual world from scratch.
A significant portion of the collection stems from a major philanthropic gift made in 2023 by New York-based collectors Julian Robertson (1932-2022) and Josie Robertson (1943-2010) to Auckland Art Gallery. The bequest reflected the couple’s lifelong commitment to sharing modern art, and now that vision is making its way to regional Australia for the first time.
The works have already proven popular across the ditch, with more than 479,000 people viewing them in Auckland over the past two years.
One of Australia’s best regional galleries
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Located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton Art Museum has established itself as one of Australia’s leading regional institutions, housing significant collections of Australian ceramics and South Eastern Indigenous Art alongside its temporary exhibition program.
SAM Artistic Director Danny Lacy described the exhibition as a rare opportunity to encounter works by the defining figures of modern art: “Shepparton Art Museum is honoured to share this extraordinary exhibition with Australian audiences. Facing Modernity offers a rare opportunity to encounter works by the defining figures of modern art; artists whose visions continue to shape how we understand creativity and human connection today.”
Facing Modernity covers the major movements that shaped visual culture from the late 19th century through to the mid-20th century, including Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism and post-war abstraction. If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to make the trip up the Goulburn Valley Highway, this is probably it.
For more information, head here.
