I had made my first visit to Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, many, many years ago and in the intervening years had neglected to return, instead on limited itineraries choosing to visit the blockbuster art exhibitions at other institutions that Paris does so well each year. On my last Paris visit in November of last year though, I was drawn to return not by the large Oskar Kokoschka retrospective the Musée d'Art Moderne was staging, but to see a display of a generous gift to the museum by the Anni and Josef Albers Foundation of the two artists works which I've posted previously (here). The museum is a wonderful example of 1930s Deco architecture housed in the eastern wing of the Palais de Tokyo complex and was constructed for the International Exhibition of Arts and Technology of 1937. The museum houses a collection of 15000 works dedicated to modern and contemporary art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The first artwork encountered is La Feé - the massive 600m squared mural by Raoul Dufy commissioned for the opening of the the building in the Pavilion of Light and Electricity in 1937. It is an immersive piece of art which envelopes the viewer telling the story of the Electricity Fairy. The lower half contains portraits of of over 100 scientists and inventors who contributed to the development of electricity, and the upper half contains allegorical figures and some of Dufy's favoured motifs. It is an impressively colourful work comprising all the colours of the spectrum. Other large scale works on display nearby include the Dance murals of master Henri Matisse. Originally commissioned by American collector Dr Albert C. Barnes for his foundation in Philadelphia, the first attempt was considered to be too decorative. The dimensions of the second attempt at the mural were wrong. These two works are displayed here and a third successful mural was delivered to the Barnes Foundation. Other large, impressive murals featuring their signature concentric circles by Sonia and Robert Delaunay can be found further into the museum. Below are a selection of the artworks which were on display on my visit which caught my eye. Now that my acquaintance with the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris has been rekindled I hope it won't be too long before a return visit can be scheduled.
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