The Moderns. Tour de France

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) possesses an attractive collection of French art. Besides some pieces of the highest quality by Old Masters, it includes quite a lot of work by modern artists. In Tour de France, the province of Antwerp and KMSKA showcase sixty of the best and most interesting nineteenth and twentieth-century pieces from the French collection. The earliest French moderns were leading exponents of academicism. David and Ingres represent the serious strand of this academic art, whereas the theatrical Salon art of Bouguereau, Cabanel and Robert-Fleury is altogether more playful and enchanting. Thanks to some generous donations and a number of targeted purchases, the museum’s French collection expanded further. In the early twentieth century, KMSKA’s acquisitions policy was focused on the innovative movements of earlier decades, including Realism and Impressionism and their offshoots. The museum thus acquired some wonderful work by Courbet, Fantin-Latour, Rodin, Degas and Signac.

The influential art circle Kunst van Heden brought many foreign contemporary masters to its Antwerp shows. Quite a few French moderns who were featured in these exhibitions eventually made their way into the museum collection, including Chagall, Rouault, Zadkine, Vlaminck and Dufy. In 1975, the museum purchased Accumulated Razors by assemblage artist Arman, who concludes the parade of French masters at KMSKA.