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Major international gothic exhibition unveiling the dark roots of modern art guest curated by university professor
Arnold Böcklin, Self Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle (1872). Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Photo: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie/Andres Kilger.
Tuesday 22 October 2024
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Professor Juliet Simpson from Coventry University has led the international research concept and guest curated the major international exhibition, Gothic Modern: From Darkness to Light, now open at the Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki.
Co-curated with Dr. Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff, Director of the Ateneum Art Museum, this exhibition tells a bold and ambitious new story of modern art that crosses cultures, communities and time. Celebrated as "the most daring exhibition of the year" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 10.10.24), it unveils the powerful influence of Gothic art and its lasting impact on artistic modernity between 1875 and 1925.
The exhibition highlights how celebrated artists like Edvard Munch, Käthe Kollwitz, Vincent Van Gogh and Marianne Stokes pushed the boundaries of art and society by drawing inspiration from Gothic art. While Gothic art is often linked with darkness and horror, for these artists, it became a source of creativity – expressing traumatic experiences, illuminated by light and transforming cultural identity.
The exhibition also demonstrates how the Gothic style was not a relic of the past, but an active and contemporary influence on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shaping the art of the time.
Edvard Munch, Eye to Eye (1899-1900). Munch Museum, Oslo. Photo: Munch Museum/Ove Kvavik.
Vincent Van Gogh, Head of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1886). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Van Gogh Foundation).
Marianne Stokes, Madonna and Child (1909). Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Gothic Modern is the culmination of a seven-year research project, marking the first in-depth exploration of the transformative significance of late medieval Gothic art on artistic movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
As guest curator, Juliet, Professor of Art History and Chair of Cultural Memory at the university’s Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, led a team of experts in collaboration with globally leading institutions such as the Oslo National Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin and the Albertina, Vienna. The goal is to illuminate the enduring impact of the Gothic imagination on modern and contemporary European art.
Bringing together rare dialogues between late medieval and modern artworks such as Holbein the Younger’s Dance of Death, Vincent Van Gogh’s Head of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette, and Käthe Kollwitz’s Peasants’ War cycle, the exhibition showcases over 200 masterpieces from leading collections across Europe and beyond.
I am immensely proud that this international research and curatorial partnership has culminated in both a global exhibition and a book showcasing the lasting influence of Gothic art.
Together, these highlight our ambition to create a bold new story of modern art, revealing the enduring power of the Gothic imagination across borders of culture and time, its profound resonances for modern artists, and for our own time.
Professor Juliet Simpson
The publication Gothic Modern: From Edvard Munch to Käthe Kollwitz, co-edited by Juliet, accompanies the exhibition and features over 140 illustrations and articles by leading scholars, collectively reimagining Gothic art between the 1870s and 1920s and offering new perspectives on themes such as belonging, modern society and identity.
The exhibition, which runs in Helsinki until 26 January 2025, will travel to the National Museum, Oslo from 28 February-15 June 2025, and to the Albertina, Vienna, 19 September 2025-11 January 2026.
Find out more about the exhibition.
Find out more about Professor Juliet Simpson and the Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities.
