ESSEN.- From September 27, 2014, onwards, Museum Folkwang is presenting a highlight of the exhibition season: Monet, Gauguin, Van Gogh … Japanese Inspirations (September 27, 2014, to January 18, 2015) will gather approximately 400 works of art, including 65 paintings from international museums and private collections, nearly 200 woodblock prints of French and Japanese origin – some rarely displayed – as well as a variety of precious decorative art masterpieces. Major works by key painters from French impressionism and post-impressionism (Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Bonnard and Vuillard) enter into a dialogue with Japanese masters such as Hokusai, Utamaro and Hiroshige. The exhibition is being presented in long-standing partnership with E.ON.

The political and economic opening of Japan marked the beginning of the influence of Japanese art on European modernity. The present exhibition shows the various ways in which an artistic examination of the exotic vocabulary of forms took place. To begin with, “the Japanese” was a popular motif: kimonos, Japanese masks or fans appeared in portraits and still lifes, mirroring the Parisian society’s infatuation with Japan in art. Soon, however, pictorial themes and design principles inspired by Japanese art began to be transferred into the familiar sphere. The European world of images was thus enriched with a new formal repertoire. At the core of the phenomenon, Japonisme led to an internalisation of Japanese stylistic devices visible in the artworks by Van Gogh, Monet and many others. European painters learnt to see through Japanese eyes, as it were. Looking ahead, the exhibition finally presents the theme of erotic Japonisme, which is of no small significance in this respect, showcasing a series of erotic prints by Pablo Picasso directly inspired by Japanese shunga (“spring images”).

Dr. Tobia Bezzola: “Examining the topic of Japonisme, we hope, will turn the museum goer into a true discoverer. Japanese prints stemming from the collections of Claude Monet, Henri Rivière or Vincent Van Gogh are presented alongside masterpieces by these artists, who were fascinated by Japanese culture. At this scale, there has not been a comparable exhibition on Japonisme anywhere in the world for many years. I would like to thank institutional and private lenders for their generous support. Furthermore, many thanks go to E.ON, our exclusive sponsor, without whom this exhibition would not have been possible.”

Dr. Ingo Luge: “I am glad that we, as E.ON, can carry on successfully in the 30-year-long partnership with Museum Folkwang. As an enterprise in the Rhein-Rhur region with 2,000 jobs in this city, the largest industrial site of the company anywhere in the world, we benefit from the museum’s great renown and the attractiveness of the metropolis. With this exhibition, we also wish to make a contribution to the entrepreneurial culture and the identification of the company with the city. Our employees perceive it as very positive that we do something for the city, in which we live and work. Our commitment therefore has not only outward but most certainly inward effects, too.”