Editor’s Note: For a preview of this incredible exhibit, including interactive space to immerse yourself in the art, see more in our Instagram reel here. You can also see our exclusive video with Chief Curator Karl Willers here as he shares what guests will enjoy on their visit, while Executive Director Cindy Petersen shares more about the exhibit and upcoming gala celebration in exclusive video here.
THE TAUBMAN MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS: Titian to Monet: European Paintings from Joslyn Art Museum
This exhibit includes the most significant periods, schools, and styles of European art history, represented by masterworks by Titian, Veronese, El Greco, Claude Lorrain, Rembrandt, Courbet, Monet, and Pissarro, among others.
The Taubman Museum of Art is pleased to present Titian to Monet: European Paintings from Joslyn Art Museum.
The exhibition marks the first time that Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, will loan a selection of its European paintings as a traveling exhibition, with the Taubman Museum of Art the first of only two venues chosen to share the collection. Spanning nearly 500 years, the 52 works comprising Titian to Monet: European Paintings from Joslyn Art Museum narrate a broad history of European painting from the Italian Renaissance to nineteenth-century French Impressionism.
The expansive chronological and geographical range includes the most significant periods, schools, and styles of European art history, represented by masterworks by Titian, Veronese, El Greco, Claude Lorrain, Rembrandt, Courbet, Monet, and Pissarro, among others. A highlight of the exhibition is a distinguished group of nineteenth-century French academic paintings, with major works by Breton, Bouguereau, and others.
Joslyn Art Museum executive director and CEO Jack Becker, PhD, spoke of what viewers of the exhibition can expect to see. “From Titian’s commanding Portrait of a Man of the Cornaro Family with a Falcon from the late 1520s to a beautiful seventeenth- century floral still life by the Dutch painter, Maria van Oosterwyck; from Claude Monet’s idyllic The Meadow of 1879 to Jean-Léon Gérôme’s compelling Orientalist vision, The Grief of the Pasha of 1885 — we are delighted to share these works from Joslyn’s renowned collection with audiences in Virginia.”
Becker noted that Joslyn is currently undergoing an ambitious expansion and renovation, including of its European galleries, which makes this unprecedented tour of works—many of which never leave permanent display in Omaha—possible.
The exhibition is organized in six sections: Devotional Art of the Early Renaissance, Renaissance and Baroque Art in Italy, The Golden Age of Netherlandish Painting, Reason and Romanticism in France and England, History and Invention in the Nineteenth- Century, and Realism and Impressionism in Modern Europe.
Outstanding examples of religious, history, portrait, landscape, genre, and still-life painting define artistic movements and embody European social, cultural, and political histories. Titian to Monet: European Paintings from Joslyn Art Museum explores the critical developments and cultural richness of European painting between 1400 and 1900.
Cindy Petersen, executive director of the Taubman Museum of Art, expressed the Museum’s pleasure at sharing these masterworks with guests from Virginia and beyond. “This exhibition presents a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many to experience artwork by European masters whose work has influenced and impacted generations across the centuries and around the world. To bring a class of schoolchildren from rural Virginia face-to-face with work by Monet, or open the world of Titian to an assisted-care facility resident through virtual programming, we are honored to be the catalyst for bringing people and art together for discovery, learning and enjoyment.”
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated publication, European Paintings and Sculpture from Joslyn Art Museum, written by Taylor J. Acosta, PhD, chief curator and Willis A. Strauss Curator of European Art at Joslyn Art Museum, with contributions from noted scholars and specialists of European art history. Masterworks from Joslyn Art Museum’s renowned European collection are illuminated by artist biographies, examinations of practice and technique, and cultural and historical contexts.
This publication has been made possible with the generous support of The Hawks Foundation, Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation, Joslyn Art Museum Association, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Robert Lehman Foundation, and an anonymous donor.
- NEW multi-sensory, immersive experience featuring these paintings will come alive in a companion gallery, a first for the Museum and Roanoke! In collaboration with Virginia Tech and Roanoke College.
- Tickets: $10 Adults | $8 Seniors, College Students, Educators, Retired and Active Military
- Free for Youth (High School Students and Younger) Sponsored by: Strauss Family | Members Always Free
- Open Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sundays 12-5 p.m. Extended hours the first Friday of each month until 9 p.m.
- Private guided tours throughout the week available by contacting 540.342.5760.
Designed by noted architect Randall Stout and accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va., is home to a widely respected permanent collection and offers rotating exhibitions showcasing work by global, national and regional artists. In recognition of the Museum’s dedicated community engagement and outreach efforts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services named the Taubman as a finalist for the 2021 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, and the Virginia Association of Museums awarded the Taubman with their 2022 Innovation Award. Committed to accessibility and inclusivity, the Taubman Museum of Art offers free general admission sponsored in part by AEP Foundation.
Joslyn Art Museum’s European Collection
Joslyn Art Museum’s collections, which span ancient to contemporary, reflect the tastes, opportunities, and resources of several generations of art patrons. This is especially true of the Museum’s collection of European paintings. When Sarah Joslyn commissioned a civic building to celebrate the arts, a culture of collecting and exhibiting fine art was already well established in Omaha. The Joslyn Memorial opened to the public in 1931 with an inaugural display including gifts of European art from several local collectors. Sarah Joslyn’s endowment to the Museum supported important Old Master acquisitions. Over the years, the European collection has continued to grow, bolstered by Omaha’s patronage and the desire to build a cherished institution in the city. Joslyn Art Museum’s European art collection is a significant cultural resource for the region and regarded as one of the finest of its kind in North America.
