Japanese art has been of fundamental importance to the development of European modern art. Nearly all of the great masters—from Degas, Manet, Monet, Gauguin and Van Gogh, to Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec and Vuillard—abandoned themselves to the charm of Japanese motifs and styles, and incorporated them into their work. Even Matisse and Picasso exhibited great interest in Japan well into the twentieth century. With Monet, Gauguin, Van Gogh ... Japanese Inspirations, Museum Folkwang devotes the first major exhibition in more than twenty-five years to one of the most fascinating chapters of French art in the second half of the nineteenth century, known as Japonisme.

The show focuses on the heyday of Japanese art in France between 1860 and 1910, presenting different creative discourses with Japan through major works by the most important artists of the time. Alongside paintings and prints by artists active in France such as Gauguin, Van Gogh and Monet, the exhibition presents an extensive selection of Japanese color woodblock prints by master practitioners Utagawa Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai and Kitagawa Utamaro, among others. Japanese artifacts are likewise juxtaposed with works by French artists such as Félix Bracquemond, Jean Carriès and Émile Gallé. Featuring essays by renowned authors as well as younger scholars, this splendidly illustrated catalogue sheds light on the most interesting aspects of this formative epoch.

Exhibition: Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, 27 September 2014 to 1 February 2015; Kunsthaus Zürich, 20 February to 10 May 2015