Van Gogh, Cézanne, Le Fauconnier & the Bergen School

April 29 to September 3, 2023

The most famous artists of the late nineteenth century have a starring role in Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar: Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and Henri Le Fauconnier (1881-1945). What influence did they have on the genesis of the Bergen School?

In the late nineteenth century in France, Belgium and Germany new painting styles tumble over each other: from impressionism and post-impressionism, to fauvism and symbolism. However, this wave of innovation completely bypasses the Netherlands. Since 1870, the art world has been under the spell of the realism of The Hague School: polder landscapes under grand cloudy skies and scenes from the lives of the fishing population. A few progressive artists organized international exhibitions around the turn of the century, allowing the Dutch to finally become acquainted with the artistic innovations from our neighboring countries. For the artists who later formed the Bergen School, the exhibitions of works by Vincent van Gogh (1905), Paul Cézanne (1909) and Henri Le Fauconnier (1911) in particular made an indelible impression. After several years of experimentation, a new expressionist style emerges in Bergen around 1915.

Gerrit Willem van Blaaderen, On the Seine near Samois, 1908, oil on canvas, 100 x 120 cm | private collection

Gerrit Willem van Blaaderen, On the Seine near Samois, 1908, oil on canvas, 100 x 120 cm | private collection

Unique loans
With this exhibition, Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar places the Bergen School in an international context. The significance of these very first expressionists in the Netherlands is not only demonstrated through historical sources, but above all made visible through unique loans of works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and Henri Le Fauconnier from home and abroad.

The exhibition significantly combines works by Bergen School artists such as Leo Gestel, Gerrit Willem van Blaaderen and Else Berg with those by Van Gogh, Cézanne and Le Fauconnier. In doing so, researcher and curator Marjan van Heteren chose works that these artists were able to see with their own eyes at the time - in the years 1905-1915. How inspiration can work out is rarely demonstrated as strikingly and vividly as here.

Many works have undergone restoration especially for this exhibition, including several by Henri Le Fauconnier, Jaap Weijand and Frans Huysmans.

Catalog
A comprehensive catalog compiled by Marjan van Heteren, curator of the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, and Prof. Dr. Chris Stolwijk, director of our collaborative partner, will accompany the exhibition RKD- Dutch Institute for Art History. With contributions from Drs. Maaike Rikhof (Frans Hals Museum) and Drs. Anita Hopmans (RKD).

 April 29 to September 3, 2023
Exhibition "Van Gogh, Cézanne, Le Fauconnier & the Bergen School