Royal Academy goes to Paris

The exhibition spans a 68-year period

The Royal Academy of Arts is to host a major exhibition of Parisian art between 1900 and 1968, it has announced.

The exhibition, which will run from 26 January until 19 April 2002, confirms Paris as the world capital of visual arts for much of the 20th Century, a place which attracted artists from all over the world with its creative spirit.

Over 250 paintings and sculptures will explore the major art movements that emerged in the city during that period.

Works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Amadeo Modigliani, Salvador Dali, Man Ray and others will be on display.

Derain painted this in the year he met Picasso, 1906

Some of the art has been loaned by private collectors, such as Picasso's Le Divan Japonais (1901), but much of the collection comes from galleries and museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

The structure of the exhibition will be chronological but the work will be split into four geographical areas of the city, each one with its own unique influence during specific eras.

Montmartre covers the first period (1900-18), as the birthplace of Cubism, Braque and Picasso being key creators.

The 1919-39 period focuses on Montparnasse, which saw the rise of Surrealism.

Chagall moved to Paris in 1910, where Modigliani was a neighbour

St German des Près (1940-57) shows the development of art during the Nazi occupation, followed by the existentialist post-war period.

Finally, the Latin Quarter looks at the years leading up to the political upheaval of 1968 (1958-68).

The Royal Academy will be publishing two books in conjunction with the exhibition, Paris: Capital of the Arts 1900-68 and a photographic history of the city, Paris Pictured 1900-68.

The exhibition will travel to the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, after its showing at the Royal Academy.

Paris:Capital of the Arts 1900-68 will be at the Royal Academy of Arts, London from 26 January - 19 April 2002.