Provo, UT

Attention art lovers: stop whatever you’re doing and head straight to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Simply put, you do not want to miss the Monet to Picasso exhibit currently on loan from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The show only runs until September 21, 2008, so make it a priority!

The UMFA touts itself as “your passport to the world,” and in this case it’s no exaggeration: it’s one of only four North American venues lucky enough to host this show. At the Monet to Picasso exhibit you’ll have a rare opportunity to see masterpieces by some of the most revolutionary European artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. More than seventy paintings and sculptures illustrate some of the most innovative periods in art history–from Impressionism to Surrealism–and have never been on display in Utah until now.

Even if you enjoy art but don’t know much about it, don’t worry, the museum has done an excellent job of providing a comprehensive overview of the exhibit. There’s a synopsis of each art period posted near the entrance of each exhibit room, and clear descriptions accompany each work.

The exhibit begins with “The Impressionist Epoch.” Portraits and landscapes by Courbet, Renoir, Pisarro, Degas, and Manet welcome you. These, along with several works by Monet such as The Red Kercheif, Low Tide at Pourville, and of course, Waterlillies, are superb examples of the Impressionist objective of capturing fleeting moments.

Degas continues to dazzle viewers in the sculpture room, where you’ll find a bronze of Dancer Looking at the Sole of Her Right Foot. Rodin, one of Europe’s preeminent sculptors, is also featured here, with The Age of Bronze, The Fall of the Angels, and The Thinker.

Post-Impressionist, there are works by Seurat, Gaughin, Vuillard, and Bonnard, plus the analytical Cezanne, and the expressive innovator Van Gogh, one of my personal favorites. There are also several works by Picasso, showcasing his stylistic range from his academic works, to his Blue and Rose periods, through the advent of Cubism.

But it doesn’t stop there. The exhibit wraps up with the bold colors of Matisse, Modigliani’s sinuous contours, two polar-opposite Mondrians, a parody of Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe by Max Ernst (Peggy Guggenheim’s husband), and evocative, mind-boggling works by Surrealists Magritte and Dali.

I couldn’t wait to see this exhibit of innovators who changed the face of art forever, and I thought it was phenomenal. I studied art in Europe for six years and I always crave seeing major European masterpieces. With UMFA (and the BYU Museum of Art), I definitely haven’t been disappointed. Although nearly sold out the day we attended, the exhibit actually wasn’t too crowded. You were able to see, study, and enjoy every work of art.

Note to parents:
It was interesting for me to visit this exhibit with my 3-1/2 year old. While she isn’t old enough to really understand what she’s looking at, we tried to make it an interactive visit; for example, pointing out shapes in Cezanne’s work, or having her find certain paintings or objects in a particular painting. I asked her to pretend the walls were the pages of a big picture book, and told her about whichever paintings and sculptures captured her attention. And when she got bored we let her pick a selection of children’s art books from the reading room, which kept her occupied and allowed us to devote our full attention to the brilliance surrounding us.

If you go:
Tickets cost $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, youth 6-18, and University of Utah students, staff, and faculty. Children under 6 are free. Museum members get in free. See the UMFA website for hours of operation.

Buy your tickets online and save yourself the wait in line. This will also ensure that tickets are available, especially as the exhibit is coming to an end.

Tickets are sold in 2-hour blocks. That means you can only enter when your time period begins, although you can stay as long as you like.

Allow yourself the full two hours. It took us about an hour and a half to go through the entire exhibit, but I would have lingered longer if I was there alone.

Large handbags and backpacks are not allowed inside the exhibit, but free lockers are provided. Strollers are permitted (and recommended, although the smaller the better).

Photography of the exhibit is prohibited.

Even if you can’t make it to the exhibit, I highly recommend a visit to UMFA any time of year. With a permanent collection of more than 17,000 works of art, you’re sure to be delighted.