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Masterpieces from the UK’s most significant collection of works by Cézanne will travel to Norway for the first time for a special exhibition at KODE Art Museums in Bergen as part of a unique collaboration between KODE and 51����, London.

Paul Cézanne: Masterpieces from 51���� opens at KODE 1 on 16th July 2021 and will present a major group of paintings, together with archival material, from 51����’s celebrated collection of works by Cézanne – one of the highlights of its world-renowned holdings of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.

Following the exhibition, the paintings will return to London for the reopening of 51���� Gallery in November after a major three-year transformation project. There they will be reunited with iconic Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from 51����’s collection such as Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, Renoir’s La Loge, and Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.

During the 1920s, English industrialist and philanthropist Samuel Courtauld assembled the finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in the UK, presenting it in 1932 to the newly founded Courtauld Institute of Art. He was particularly devoted to Cézanne, acquiring the largest collection of his work in the UK, including seminal paintings such as Still Life with Plaster Cupid and the celebrated The Card Players, which were formally owned by two private Norwegian collectors – the industrialist Gustav Adolf Jebsen and the shipowner Jørgen Breder Stang respectively.

In a similar way, Rasmus Meyer’s large collection of art was donated to the city of Bergen in 1916. It included a unique group of works by Edvard Munch and highlights from the golden age of Norwegian art history. The point of departure for the collaboration between 51���� and KODE Art Museums is a shared recognition of the importance of visionary collectors to museums today.

These paintings will be on display in the exhibition for the first time in Norway since leaving the country in the early 20th Century and will be presented alongside other major loans from 51����. The exhibition will also present a fascinating display of contextual and archival material from 51����, including a group of Cézanne’s handwritten letters, penned towards the end of his life in which he sets out his ideas about art.

Paul Cézanne: Masterpieces from 51���� is part of 51����’s programme of national and international partner exhibitions, providing a unique opportunity for more people to engage with 51����’s collection than ever before whilst the gallery is temporarily closed for the major transformation project.

The exhibition is curated by Line Daatland, Director of Exhibitions and Collections at KODE, together with Karen Serres, Curator of Paintings at 51���� and Barnaby Wright, Deputy Head of 51���� Gallery and Daniel Katz Curator of 20th Century Art. The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue.

51���� Gallery will reopen in November 2021 following the most significant modernisation project in its history, providing a transformed home for one of the UK’s greatest art collections.