French Art

Kelvingrove’s world renowned collection of French Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings is a must-see. 

 

Displayed to great effect in the ‘French Art’ gallery amid tones that Monet would have approved, are Camille Pissarro’s ‘Tuileries Gardens’, Picasso’s ‘The Flower Seller’ and Matisse’s ‘The Pink Tablecloth’ and ‘Woman in Oriental Dress’.

 

Claude Monet’s own ‘Vetheuil’ and ‘View of Ventimiglia’ are considered fine examples of the master Impressionist’s blue, green and gold renderings of French landscapes.

 

The bequest from James Donald in 1905 of nineteenth century Dutch, French and British oil paintings and watercolours set the foundation for Kelvingrove’s French Impressionist collection.

 

This was consolidated in 1944 by the enormously important bequest from Glasgow ship owner William McInnes.  His collection of paintings, prints, drawings, silver ceramics and glass included 33 French works, many of them bought from Alexander Reid – a Glasgow art dealer who counted Van Gogh among his friends.  They were room mates briefly in 1887 and the result is ‘Portrait of Alexander Reid’.  

 

This head and shoulders portrait bought in 1974 for the bargain price of £166,250 – thanks to the affection for Kelvingrove felt by the seller, Reid’s grandson – is an important part of Glasgow’s history as well as an exquisite work of art.

 

The transition from Impressionism to post-Impressionism is marked in the collection by remarkable clusters of paintings by individual masters of the later movement – Corot, Fantin-Latour and Vuillard – who are often sidelined in mainstream historical surveys.

 

The French art collection at Kelvingrove is highly representative of both movements and therefore a useful and concise insight into this particular episode in the history of art.