Work by pioneering French painter excites Beaverbrook Art Gallery
Nathalie Sturgeon | CBC News | Posted: February 5, 2018 10:36 PM | Last Updated: February 5, 2018
Beaverbrook Art Gallery acquires its fourth Engéne Boudin painting
A pre-Impressionist's painting of a night sky over a northern French port has joined the Beaverbrook Art Gallery's collection.
And it's a "huge deal," says director and CEO Tom Smart.
Le Port de Saint Valery — Clair de Lune, painted by Eugène Boudin in 1891, is no larger than a page of newsprint, Smart said, but it gives off a moody vibe.
Boudin, who died in 1898, was a marine painter known as the "king of the skies."
He was also one of the first French artists to paint outside the studio, the gallery says.
"It's very difficult to paint a night scene, particularly a moonlight scene," Smart said.
The painting was donated to the Fredericton gallery by Lucinda Flemer, who founded Kingsbrae Garden in Saint Andrews with her husband, John.
Three Boudin paintings were already part of the Beaverbrook's collection: the Madame Juilette dans le jardin, 1895, the Personnage sur la plage, before 1898, and the Pardon à Sainte-Anne-la-Palud, 1858. They were all part of the touring exhibition Masterworks from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
The new painting is on display outside the pavilion that opened in October.
"It's almost the front room of Fredericton and of New Brunswick," Smart said in an interview with Information Morning Fredericton.
The new pavilion features an open-concept gallery space with two large windows, a café and artist-in-residence space.
A focal point of the space is Salvador Dali's Santiago el Grande, which used to hang in the entrance.
Smart said the café has played a big part in attracting new visitors to the gallery.
"It's a place that a lot is happening in," he said. "Interesting things are happening in almost every single room."
The café will even give visitors the Wi-Fi password, he said.