the Garden at Etten), Bushes, and Cottages with Thached Roofs , painted during the last years of the artist's life. Cottages with Thatched Roofs (1890) is imbued with the feeling of anxiety which overcame him on seeing the poor dwellings, clinging to the slope of the hill. Van Gogh's characteristic dramatic tension is felt in the vividness of the colours, the restless rhythm of the thick, energetic brush-strokes, and the expressiveness of line. p> Displayed in the same room are Tropical Forest, The Chopin Memorial in the Luxemburg Gardens and View to the Left of the Gate of Vanves by Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), usually referred to as a Primitive. br/>
Room 316. The fifteen paintings in the Hermitage by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) belong to his so-called Tahiyian period. In his pictures painted in the tropics Gauguin extols a world untouched by "civilization" and full of the exotic, where people live in harmony with nature. Gauguin's paintings are decorative, the areas of local colours lie on the canvas in motionless patches, and the contours of the figures and objects-sometimes smooth and fluid, sometimes exquisitely delicate-give the picture the semblance of a coloured pattern (Tahitian Pastorals, Woman Holding a Fruit, Miraculous Source, The Idol, etc.) br/>
Room 343-345 . The thirty-seven pictures by Henry Matisse (1869-1954), painted between 1900 and 1913, make it possible to illustrate the special features of the work of one of the leading twentieth century French artists. The Family Group, Red Room and other of Matisse's works are striking in their decorative quality and their saturated colours. Rejecting a chiaroscuro treatment, Matisse simplifies and schematizes his figures and objects, building up his composition on the contrasting juxtaposition of large areas of pure colour. The radiant colourfulness of Matisse's canvases produces a feeling of joy and gaiety. br/>
Room 346 and 347 . Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was an eminent French progressive, the winner of the International Peace Prize and of the International Lenin Prize "for the Strengthening of Peace between Nations". The development of Picasso as an artist was unusually complex and contradictory. The Hermitage collection, consisting of thirty-seven works, helps illustrate the early stages of this development. In one of the best paintings of his early period, Woman Drinking Absinth (1901), Picasso created a type that evokes a deep sense of tragedy. The Portrait of Soler and The Visit (Two Sisters) belong to the so-called Blue Period (1901-1904); his Pink Period (1905-1906) is represented by a gouache drawing, Boy with a Dog.
Between 1906 and 1907 Picasso was absorbed with analysis of form and reduced everything to a simplified volume similar to a cube, a sphere or a cylinder. He became one of the founder of a new tendency in art, Cubism, typical of which are such works as Woman with a Fan, Three Women, Pitcher and Bowl and others. After this Picasso arrived at a complete break-up of form; he destroyed volume and created free compositions from planes and lines.
Rooms 348 and 349. Among the paintings of early twentieth century artist are works by Andre Derain (1880-1954) - The Grove, The Lake and Harbour in Provence ; Maurice Vlaminck (1876-1958) - A View of the Seine ; Jean-Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) - A Room and Children ; Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) - Early Spring and A Corner of Paris ; Louis Valtat (1869-1952) - Pleasure Party in the Garden ; Maurice Denis (1870-1943) - Spring Landscape with Figures . br/>
Room 350 contains a large collection of pictures by the fine landscape painter Albert Marquet (1875-1947), whose greatest love was Paris and who painted her streets and squares, quays and bridges over the Seine. The colours in his landscapes are always true to life and objects are represented in a very generalized way.
Displayed in the same room are landscapes Leopold Survage (1879-1968) and Andre Fougeron (Born 1913). The Bridge was painted by the latter in 1964. Glowing colours and great vitality distinguish the Red Dancer and Lady in a Black Hat by Cornelius Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968). p> In room 350 are also shown paintings by Fernand Leger (1881-1955), - Carte postale and Composition.
The Hermitage exhibition of French art also includes marble sculptures by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) and bronzes by Aristide Maillol (1861-1944)
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