In the summer of 1905 Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and André Derain among others threw themselves into pictorial experiments with ferocious colours and innovative shapes. This became the start of a breathless and revolutionary period in art history.

In this exhibition we display a selection of highlights from the museum’s collection of French art from 1900-1930.

In the exhibition you can see very different works by the same artists. Many of the artists in the exhibition tried out different expressions and techniques. Common to the very diverse works is that they attracted vast attention in their time for their striking contributions to how modern art ought to be. The critique rained down on them and some of the artists were accused of daubing.

In the exhibition you can experience works such as Matisse’s papercut Zulma, which is very rarely exhibited.

SMK has a unique collection of French art with works by Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani and Derain. This sensational collection is largely the product of engineer and art collector Johannes Rump. During the 1910’s and in the beginning of the 1920’s he gathered one of the finest collections of works by Matisse. A collection he generously donated to the museum in 1928.