And you can as well see a bit of Mexico in Lyon! Really! How? Well, have you heard of Los Modernos!
This has been an temporary exposition in the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon which I had a pleasure to see! And I was so impressed that I hurried up to share my experience with you. So you can still have a chance to visit it as it is coming to the end and will close on 5th March. But also if you won’t mange to go I hope I can share its beauty with you though this article and photos. Ready? Here it comes…
The lyonnais Musee des Beaux-Arts has teamed up with the MUNAL (Museo Nacional de Arte) of Mexico to present a great exhibition Los Modernos – Dialog French & Mexican 2017/2018.
The expo brings together modern French and Mexican painters, through more than 300 paintings, sculptures and photographs. It is very interesting and beautiful. I learned few new things and admired the artwork I have already known (like only Frida artist but still something😉)
Anyways, I noticed and you can as well, that Mexico had been really fascinated by the French artists and France. Many of them even stayed in France (and I don’t blame them but fully understand). These were for example the surrealist André Breton, the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, the painter modern Jean Charlot.
Secondly, I discovered there is a lot of nudity, honestly, simplicity in the paintings. They were not ashamed but proud to show naked women with a nice curves.
And thirdly, my attention was drawn to the sadness, seriousness of people at the paintings. They all seem so sad! It shocked me a bit. Everyday we are surrounded by smiley faces, we put on a big smile ourselves to impress or not to worry others and we forget that it is ok to feel sad, down, serious but it’s not ok to hide it…sorry for my small reflection…but we should stay honest with ourselves so we don’t suffer or we suffer less. Don’t you agree?
But coming back to the subject! Because I also need to mention that the richness of the exhibition is pretty impressive. It presents 380 works by the greatest artists of the first half of the 20th century. From the French side we have here: Georges Braque, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Andre Derain, Maria Banchard, Fermand Léger, Albert Gleizes, Robert Delaunay, Francis Bacon, Pierre Soulages, and from the Mexican scene: Gerardo Murillo (Dr. Atl), Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego rivera, Carlos Merida, German Cueto, David Alfaro siquieros, Rufino Tamayo, Maria Izquierdo, Fridha Kalho, Mathias Goeritz .
Do you know any of the names? I recognised only Frida and Picasso so really I can’t impress you here. But I was nicely impressed and surprised to see Pablo Picasso. Would you expect him there?
Anyways, lastly I want to say that, on top of paintings, the exhibition also highlighted the important part dedicated to twentieth century photography, from the French, Mexican and North American photographers. Impressive, unusual photos
And also one of the things I liked a lot there, was the opportunity to admire the real Mexican masks and puppets, so original and next to the lyonnais Guinol!
So what do you think about Los Modernos. Would you like to see it or have you already visited the exposition. Do you know about any other Mexican initiatives in France? Please share with us so we can continue to explore more of this different yet beautiful world in France.
And my final words are: This exhibition is exciting, rich and informative. Do not miss it! Or if you missed it never stop exploring different cultures as i’m sure the lyonnais museums will keep us occupied with new expositions in the future.
Los Modernos: When? Where? How Much?
When: From 02/12/2017 to 05/03/2018 from 10h to 18h except public holidays. Closed on Tuesdays.
Where: Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon; 20 place des Terreaux – 69001 Lyon
How Much: Tickets: from € 12
BONUS: A cinema & a museum initiative on where the Musee des Beaux – Arts de Lyon associates with the cinema Comoedia on this occasion to display the film Coco.The ticket of entry for the exhibition Los Modernos, dialogues France / Mexico gives access to the reduced tariff for the film Coco ( € 6.80 instead of € 8.80) at the Comœdia
Great exhibition. There were even snakes and reptiles preserved in formalin ! 🐍