From Fauvism to Surrealism : Masterpieces from the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris

The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris presents a selection of some eighty masterpieces, illustrating the history of its collection, an overview of the avant-garde artistic movements born in Paris during the first decades of the twentieth century. The museum, built on the occasion of the 1937 Exposition Internationale as home to the City of Paris's collections of modern art, expanded rapidly, making major purchases thanks to the support of patrons. Works by Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliano and Suzanne Valadon formed the nucleus of the collection, reflecting the importance the museum and its first benefactors gave to women artists. Organized in three stages, succeeding each other chronologically, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the period following the Second World War, the selection gives a perspective onto the main representatives of Fauvism, Cubism, the School of Paris, and Surrealism, of which Paris was the historical home.