The exhibition will be open to the public from the 7th August.
Showcasing sixty pieces of art from the Ordrupgaard Collection, considered to be one of the finest collections of Impressionist paintings in northern Europe, the exhibition is set to feature works by Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley – all collected by wealthy Danish couple Wilhelm and Henny Hansen.
The exhibition is also set to feature precursors of Impressionism such as Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Jules Dupré and Charles-François Daubigny, and a number of Post-Impressionist works including an exceptional group of eight paintings by Paul Gauguin, with many pieces having never been seen in the UK before.
This new display is set to open with En Plein Air featuring landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes mostly painted in and around Paris, the Normandy coast and London, showing how the Impressionists broke away from the classical Italianate landscapes. Meanwhile, Collecting French Masters features works by predecessors of Impressionism. Advised by Duret, Hansen acquired paintings by important earlier nineteenth-century painters including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Courbet.
The exhibition will then continue with Impressionist Women shows portraits of women painted by Renoir and Degas as well as Morisot and Eva Gonzalès. It will conclude with Gauguin and Post-Impressionism presenting works by artists who, at the turn of the century, reacted against Impressionism: Gauguin, Cézanne and Henri Matisse.
Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces from the Odrupgaard Collection will be on display at the Royal Academy from the 7th August until the 18th October.