The Twentieth Century, from Symbolism up to today

 

The Bordeaux native painter Odilon Redon, one of the pioneers of Symbolism, extoled a return to sacredness and spiritualism as a reaction to the positivism of the end of the 19th century. The use of pure colour in works with vivid and violent contrasts characterizes the Fauve revolution founded in the Salon d’automne in 1905 by Bordeaux native Marquet, Matisse and Valtrat. As for sculpture, the young followers of Rodin embodied modernity by placing the creative act in the centre of their artistic research. 

 

Odilon Redon, Le char d'Apollon, 1909 

Photo : F. Deval

 

In 1912, the Bordeaux native Lhote joined the Cubist movement started by Picasso and Braque a few years before. By 1918, Picasso turned away from it and returned to a more classical style, a sign of the “Return to Order” School that developed in the 1920’s as a reaction to the Avant Garde.  

 

Several schools of abstract art are represented here by Herbin or the Bordeaux native Jean-Maurice Gay in the wake of Constructivism research. Roger Bissiere approached a style of painting that distanced itself from all forms of narration while the works of Olivier Debré or Riopelle highlight the power and expressivity of strokes. This room is very frequently used for temporary painting exhibits.