An artist friendship
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"[...] one of my greatest wishes has come true: our friendship, our artistic union." (Aristide Maillol to Maurice Denis, 1905)
On the occasion of Aristide Maillol's 150th birthday, the Clemens-Sels-Museum Neuss dedicated itself for the first time to the "artistic alliance" of two pioneers of modernism, who exemplarily represent the museum's collection: Aristide Maillol and Maurice Denis. Accompanied by important loans from Germany and abroad, the exhibition illuminated the various facets of their forward-looking artistic friendship through numerous sculptures and paintings, hand drawings and prints.
For the first time, the museum juxtaposed the work of the famous sculptor with that of the great painter and theoretician of the artist group "Nabis". The meeting of the two artistic personalities in 1896 was even once described by the well-known Denis scholar Jean-Paul Bouillon as a "historical moment in the history of art", the mutual significance and influence of which has not been the subject of any exhibition to date.
The presentation was accompanied by a varied program of events, ranging from lectures and expert discussions to readings, workshops and a young night for teenagers and young adults.