An exhibition of French 19th century art in Berlin

Ingeborg Ruthe enthuses about the new exhibition of masterpieces of 19th century French painting from New York's Metropolitan Museum, which opens tomorrow in Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery). "French 19th century art, which the Americans have so passionately and discerningly collected, is testimony to a golden age in painting. The period combined the traditional and the modern, attracted huge audiences to art galleries and fuelled art criticism and the art market. The dialogue-like composition of the exhibition serves to illustrate this process. Everything is interconnected: classicism and romanticism, romanticism and realism, realism and impressionism. This all leads up to the age of radical modernism. The century that produced such great paintings began in the tradition of the old masters, but at its end there were no longer any compulsory styles."

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