Masterpieces of European Painting from the Fourteenth to Twentieth Centuries from The Museum of Fine Arts

17 July - 22 August 1999

Hours: 9:30a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Entry is permitted thirty minutes before the galleries are closed.
Closed: Closed on Mondays

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, located in this southeast Texas metropolis in the United States of America, first opened its doors in 1924. Since then, it has undergone continued expansion until today, it is an institution with extensive facilities consisting principally of three sections ・the main Museum building, the affiliated Glassell School of Art, and a sculpture garden designed by Isamu Noguchi as well as Bayou Bend, its separate home museum, housed in a historic building dating from the 1920s. With a co11ection of nearly forty thousand works of mostly European but also Asian, Indian, and American art, the Museum is now constructing a new building, 1arger than the present, that will remedy the current lack of display space for the permanent collection and enable it to better deal with large-scale, international traveling exhibitions. It was thanks to this situation that the present exhibition was made possible. This is indeed the first time in the Museum's history that so many works from its co11ection are being shown together outside the United States.

The exhibition features over seventy masterpieces selected from the Museum's extensive collection, from Ita1ian Renaissance and Northern Renaissance altarpieces of the late fourteenth century, works of the Baroque, Rococo, nineteenth century Impressionism, to fine examples of twentieth century art, giving spectators an overview of the rich history of the development of European painting. It is said that the foundations of today's Europe were built during the Renaissance. Through this exhibition, viewers will be able to see how Renaissance painting, which while still dealing with Christian themes restored confidence in humanity through its way of rendering those themes, eventually gave rise to the many subsequent paintings of non-religious themes and subject-matter. Another special feature of this exhibition is the inclusion of a large number of Renaissance Panel paintings, which makes it an extremely rare event in Japan. For this reason as well, we are certain that the exhibition will provide a chance for viewers to enjoy thoroughly the tradition of European painting and its appeal.

We wish to express our deep appreciation to Peter C. Marzio, Director, and the staff members of THE Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation for having arranged this exhibition.

Finally, our sincere gratitude goes also to The Ministry of Foreign Affair, Japan, and The Embassy of The United States of America in Japan for their patronage, Kao Corporation and Taisei Corporation for their sponsorship, Japan Airlines, Continental Air1ines, and Yamato Transport Co.,Ltd, for their co11aboration, and all those others involved in this project.

Installation views

1st room

2nd room

3rd room

4th room