Montreal and Vancouver: New exhibitions featuring Jean Paul Gaultier and Claude Monet

LOVE IS LOVE: WEDDING BLISS FOR ALL A LA JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
May 27 - October 9, 2017

Jean Paul Gaultier, Punk Parisienne collection, Women's pret-a-porter spring/summer 1997. Photo ©Rindoff-Garcia / Angeli

The Montreal Museum of Arts presents LOVE IS LOVE: WEDDING BLISS FOR ALL A LA JEAN PAUL GAULTIER. Opening May 27 and running through October 9, 2017 this original installation brings together more than three dozen of the French designer's haute couture bridal creations.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Gay Wedding collection. 'Les Maries' wedding ensemble, men's pret-a-porter spring/summer 2005. Photo ©Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

The exhibition features 36 wedding gowns and suits created between 1990-2017, all designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. The exhibition LOVE IS LOVE is a reflection of the ongoing commitment of both Jean Paul Gaultier and the MMFA to promote the acceptance of diversity and continue the fight against homophobia. The show's title is an allusion to the speech given by President Barack Obama in 2015 regarding the legalization of homosexual marriage in all American states.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Cutters collection, 'La Mariee' wedding gown, haute couture spring/summer 2001. Photo ©Patrice Stable/JeanPaul Gaultier 

Presented in the museum's Contemporary Art Square, the exhibition is organized around a monumental wedding cake featuring female and male mannequins -- couples of every gender and orientation. The faces of some of the mannequins are animated. LOVE IS LOVE is part of the MMFA's Year for Peace, reflecting the Museum's humanist values and commitment to peace and acceptance.

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

1380 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal Quebec

mbam.qc.ca

CLAUDE MONET'S SECRET GARDEN

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY

June 24 - October 1, 2017

Claude Monet | Nympheas, 1903 | oil on canvas | Musee Marmottan Monet, Paris
Photo ©Bridgeman Giraudon/Press

Claude Monet's Secret Garden is being hailed as the most important exhibition of French painter Claude Monet's work that has been shown in Canada in two decades. The exhibition, from the collection of the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris, presents 38 paintings that span the course of Monet's long career. The Vancouver showing is the only presentation of the exhibition in North America. His art reflects a diversity of subjects, from the portrayal of modern life in his early figure studies to the inventive treatment of light in his scenes of the Parisian countryside and view of the River Thames. 

Claude Monet | Nympheas, 1916-19 | oil on canvas | Musee Marmottan Monet Paris | Photo ©Bridgeman Giraudon/Press

The exhibition culminates in a major series of paintings of his famous gardens in the French village of Giverny, where Monet lived from 1883 to the end of his life. In this series, Monet has created a visual exploration of plants and water. His renderings of weeping willows, waterlilies and the Japanese bridge in his garden are among the most iconic imagery in Western painting today. 

Stephen Shore | Waterlilies (from the Giverny Portfolio), 1977-83 | chromogenic print | collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery

Running as a complement to Claude Monet's Secret Garden is an exhibition by contemporary American photographer Stephen Shore. Twenty-five photographs from VAG's collection are being shown for the first time in Vancouver. Stephen Shore: The Giverny Portfolio is comprised of images he made during several visits to Monet's garden at Giverny between 1977-1983. 

Vancouver Art Gallery

750 Hornby Street, Vancouver

www.vanartgallery.bc.ca