Facing Modernity: Degas to Picasso

Exclusively to Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) in Australia, Facing Modernity: Degas to Picasso brings together 37 exceptional paintings and sculptures from the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki never before shown in Australia that capture the radical shifts in art from the late 19^th century to the mid-20^th century.

Audiences will embark on a journey tracing the major art movements of the modern era, from Impressionism and Post-Impressionism to Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism and post-war abstraction, through works from icons of the age, including Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Paul Cezanne, Salvador Dalí, Paul Gauguin, Barbara Hepworth, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso.

This significant collection includes a major philanthropic gift from New York-based collectors Julian Robertson (1932-2022) and Josie Robertson (1943-2010) to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2023. Their generous bequest offers a rare glimpse into the vision of two passionate art patrons and their lifelong commitment to sharing and celebrating modern art. From the sensual nudes and atmospheric brushwork of late 19^th century Impressionism to the geometric intensity of Cubism and the dreamlike worlds of Surrealism, Facing Modernity traces how artists shattered conventions and reimagined the world anew.

Facing Modernity: Degas to Picasso showing exclusively at the Shepparton Art Museum, 23 May to 20 September 2026. Tickets on sale from 23 April. 

Artwork credits:

Henri Matisse, Espagnole (Buste)/The Spanish Woman, 1922, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023.

Paul Cezanne, La route (Le mur d’enceinte)/The Road (The Old Wall), 1875-1876, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023.

André Derain, Paysage à l’Estaque (Estaque Landscape), 1906, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2023.

Edgar Degas, Danseuse mettant son bas (Dancer Putting on Her Stocking),1920s-1930s (cast), 1890s (conceived), 1911 (conceived), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1956

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