Max ERNST, The Garden of France

 

The exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tours is one of 12 that are recognised to be of national interest by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication/Direction des musées de France. As a result, it benefits from exceptional financial assistance.

 

It has also received the Val de Loire World Heritage label and is placed under the patronage of the Franco-German Cultural High Council.

 

It is funded by the City of Tours as well as the Centre Regional Council, Indre-et-Loire County Council, the Association des Amis de la Bibliothèque and the Musée des beaux-arts in Tours.

Private viewing with the French Minister of Culture and Communication (to be confirmed) and the German Ambassador.

 

The exhibition has given rise to a rich cultural events programme including guided tours, lectures, films, readings, plays and concerts.

 

 

 

In 1955, when Paris was seeing an awakening of informal and abstract art, Max Ernst chose to settle in Touraine where, in the peace and quiet of this region, he created his later work: rich and unique .

 

The exhibition put on at the Musée des beaux-arts in Tours is named after a particularly symbolic painting by the artist: The Garden of France. This is one of the most remarkable works of art to have been produced in this landscape. In 1962, a year before The Birth of Venus by Cabanel, one of the most famous 19th century Paris Salon paintings, turned 100, Max Ernst repainted a version of it that he had unearthed at a flea market. The Indre and Loire rivers envelop the female body with their liquid caresses.

 

But this work of art is not the only one to convey the artist's complicity with this region. Through these years, Max Ernst worked richly and prolifically (paintings, sculpture, engravings, prints), using a variety of techniques (oil, collage, frottage or rubbing, printing and so on).