Proust and the Arts

The Thyssen-Bornemisza is hosting an exhibition from 4 March to 8 June that reflects on the significance of art in the work of Marcel Proust (Auteuil, 1871-Paris, 1922), one of the 20th century’s most influential writers.

The display explores the artistic ideas Proust developed in his writing, the artistic, monumental, and landscape environments that surrounded him and which he later recreated in his books, and the contemporary and historical artists who inspired him. The exhibition aims to highlight the connection and interrelationship between art and Proust’s persona, life and work. To understand the writer, it’s essential to know the Paris in which he lived: the cosmopolitan, affluent capital of the Third Republic, in the midst of a great transformation with the advent of electricity, cars, entertainment, and cafés. The aesthetic foundation of Proust’s work is deeply rooted in the image of modernity created by the Impressionist painters.

The exhibition includes paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Watteau, Turner, Fantin-Latour, Manet, Monet, Renoir, and Whistler, among others; a sculpture by Antoine Bourdelle; designs by Mariano Fortuny and other creators of the time; and a selection of Proust's manuscripts, with loans from the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris, Mauritshuis in The Hague, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Städel Museum in Frankfurt, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Image credits:

• Claude Monet. Water Lilies. 1916-1919. Oil on Canvas. 200 x 180 cm. Riehen/Basel, Beyeler Foundation, Beyeler Collection
• James Tissot. The Circle of the Rue Royale, 1866. Oil on canvas, 175 × 281 cm. Paris, Musée d’Orsay © Musée d'Orsay, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Patrice Schmidt
• Ignacio Zuloaga. Portrait of Comtess Mathieu de Noailles, 1913. Oil on canvas, 152 × 195.5 cm . Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes, donated by Ramón de la Sota y Llano, 1919 © Arte Ederren Bilboko Museoa – Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao
• Joseph M. W. Turner. The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore, 1834. Oil on canvas, 91.5 × 122 cm. Washington, National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection. © National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Claude Monet. Tulip Field in Holland, 1886. Oil on canvas, 65.5 × 81.5 cm. Paris, Musée d’Orsay, legacy of the princess Edmond de Polignac © GrandPalaisRmn (musée d'Orsay) / Franck Raux