Masterpieces of nineteenth-century French painting from the Ordrupgaard Collection in Copenhagen are travelling to the Royal Academy of Arts in the spring of 2020. Drawn from the remarkable collection of the Danish insurance magnate and art lover Wilhelm Hansen, these works represent the very best of French Impressionism.
Having already built up an impressive collection of Scandinavian art, at the beginning of the First World War Hansen had ambitious plans to extend his collection to encompass French art. A burst of acquisitions from 1916 to 1918, during which he took advice from the influential Parisian art critic Theodore Duret, saw his collection grow to include works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Sisley, Courbet, Morisot, Matisse, Pissarro and - forming a particular highlight of the collection - a group of significant paintings by Paul Gauguin.
With stunning reproductions of sixty works, the authors explore the history of the collection and provide detailed analysis of the works themselves.
