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Maurice Denis Biography
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Born at Granville on the Channel coast, Maurice Denis was brought up at Saint-Germain-en-Laye where he lived throughout his life. He was educated at the Lycée Condorcet between 1882 and 1887 where fellow pupils included Edouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier Roussel. Denis entered the Académie Julian in 1888, where he met Paul Sérusier and Pierre Bonnard. Together they formed the symbolist group known as the Nabis (Prophets) and looked to Paul Gauguin to lead the movement. Denis's work was greatly influenced by Gauguin and he owned three of his paintings, two still-lives of 1886 and 1888 and Self-Portrait with Yellow Christ of 1889. At the age of twenty, Denis wrote his famous article:
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Définition du Néo-Traditionnisme, Art et Critique, August 1890 which assured his place as one of the most influential critics of the twentieth century. His famous dictum is a microcosm of modernist thought: It is well to remember that a picture before being a battle horse, a nude woman, or some anecdote - is essentially a plain surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order. For the next twenty years, Denis's interpretive criticism played a crucial role in defining the new art. He later published his writings on art in Théories and Nouvelles Théories
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Albi (Musée Toulouse-Lautrec)
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Digione (Musée des Beaux-Arts)
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Nantes (Musée des Beaux-Arts)
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Parigi (Bibliothèque Nationale, Musée d’Art Moderne, Musée d’Orsay, Musée des Arts Décoratifs)
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Quimper (Musée des Beaux-Arts)
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Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Musée Départemental du Prieuré)
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Neuss (Museo Clemens Sels), Germania
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| Selected Exhibitions |
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2008
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THE FLOWERS OF EVIL STILL BLOOM - Cueto Project, New York City, NY
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2008
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Traces du Sacré - Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris
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2007
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Paris 1900 - Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
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2007
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Schilders van de Ziel. Symbolisme in Frankrijk - Singer Laren, Laren
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2007
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Der Symbolismus und die Kunst der Gegenwart - Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal
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2007
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La photographie au Musée d'Orsay - 20 ans d'acquisitions - 1986-2006 - Musée d´Orsay, Paris
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2007
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Maurice Denis - MART- Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto (solo)
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2007
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Landesausstellung 2007: Maurice Denis, Maestro del Simbolismo internazionale - MART- Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto (solo)
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2007
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Maurice Denis - Earthly Paradise - The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montreal, QC (solo)
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2006
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Maurice Denis - Musée d´Orsay, Paris (solo)
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2006
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Paris - Athens, 1863-1940 - National Art Gallery - Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens
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2006
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The Romance of Modernism: Paintings and Sculpture from the Scott M. Black Collec - MFA - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA
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2006
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Orangerie, 1934 - les Peintres de la réalité - Musée National de l´Orangerie, Paris
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2006
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Women from Tokyo and Paris - Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
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2006
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From experiment to print - Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
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2006
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Art books - Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
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2005
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Le Théâtre de l'OEuvre (1893-1900) naissance du théâtre moderne - Musée d´Orsay, Paris
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2005
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Around Gauguin - Post-Impressionist work from the Triton Foundation - Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
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2005
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Renoir und das Frauenbild des Impressionismus - Kunsthalle Krems, Krems
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2005
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Dessins de Georges Seurat et des artistes néo-impressionnistes - Musée d´Orsay, Paris
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2005
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The Triton Collection - Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
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2005
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Graphik des XX. Jahrhundert - Galerie Vömel GmbH, Dusseldorf
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2004
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Figura de la Francia Moderna-De Ingres a Toulouse-Lautrec - Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, Cuenca
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2004
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Figuras de la Francia moderna - Fundación Juan March, Madrid
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2004
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Von Delacroix bis Gauguin - Französische Druckgraphik des 19. Jahrhunderts - Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg
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2004
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Graphik des XX. Jahrhunderts - Galerie Vömel GmbH, Dusseldorf
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2002
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Gauguin to Matisse: French Masterpieces from Russia's Hermitage Museum - Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
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2002
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Obras maestras de la pintura europea. Colección Rau - Museo Nacional de Colombia, Santafé de Bogota
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2002
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From Puvis de Chavannes to Matisse and Picasso - Palazzo Grassi, Venice
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2002
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La collezione Rau. Sei secoli di grande pittura europea - GAMeC - Galleria d´Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Bergamo
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2001
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Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, and Roussel - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY
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2001
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Beyond the easel - decorative paintings 1890 - 1930 - The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
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2000
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Gauguin to Toulouse-Lautrec - French Prints of the 1890s - The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montreal, QC
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1999
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Les Peintres de l'âme. Le Symbolisme idéaliste en France. - Musée d'Ixelles - Museum van Elsene, Brussels
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1999
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Do impresionismo ao Fauvismo. Colección Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza - CGAC - Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela
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1997
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Paris-The 1890s - MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY
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1995
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46th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale / Biennale di Venezia - La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
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1956
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Shadow and Substance: The Shadow Theater of Montmartre and Modern Art - Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX
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PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Musée d'Ixelles - Museum van Elsene, Brussels, Belgium
National Gallery of Canada - Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Musée Maillol - Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris, France
Musée d´Orsay, Paris, France
Musée d'Art moderne de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
Musée de L'Annonciade , St. Tropez, France
Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain (MAMCS), Strasbourg, France
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne, Germany
Museum Folkwang Essen, Essen, Germany
Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran
Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
MOMAT The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
NMWA The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, USA
Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY, USA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art - LACMA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA, USA
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| Literature |
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Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Catalogue officiel illustré, Salon 1932
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Maurice Denis, Orangerie des Tuileries, Parigi, Réunion des Musée Nationaux, 1970
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B. Thomson, The Post-Impressionists, Oxford, Phaidon, 1983
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Maurice Denis et la Bretagne, Maurice Denis à Perros-Guirec, Musée Municipal de Morlaix, Ville de Perros-Guirec, 1985
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A.A.V.V., Pointillisme, sur les traces de Seurat, Losanna, Fondations de l’Hermitage, 1997
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A. Berès, Maurice Denis, 1870-1943, Huguette Berès, 1992
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J.P. Bouillon, Maurice Denis, Ginevra, Skira, 1993
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Da Renoir a Picasso, un secolo d’arte al Petit Palais di Ginevra, a cura di Paola Gribaudo, Milano, Electa, 2001
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Da Caillebotte a Picasso, I capolavori della collezione Oscar Ghez dal Museo del Petit Palais di Ginevra a cura di L. Caramel, N. Sainte Fare Garnot, G. Gentry, Milano, Mazzotta, 2003
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| Links to further information |
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