Co-organised and co-curated between the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, New York) and the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV, Melbourne), the world-premiere exhibition MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art opens Saturday 9 June at the NGV International.

The exhibition is a world-first and features more than 200 works, many of which have never seen before in Australia. The impressive line-up of artists traverses the nineteenth and twentieth-century including familiar names such as Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko to name just a few. Moving into the modern, the exhibition also features works by twenty-first-century artists including Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman and Olafur Eliasson.

MoMA at NGV is the largest instalment of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition series to date. Widening the scope of its breadth, the exhibition displays works drawn from the Gallery’s six curatorial departments, including Architecture and Design, Drawings and Prints, Film, Media and Performance Art, Painting and Sculpture, and Photography.

From an artistic point of view, MoMA at NGV explores the emergence and development of major art movements that have transpired over 130 years of radical artistic innovation.

Not limited to just the art world, the exhibition also showcases the influence of architecture and design, a move that recognises MoMA and the NGV’s long-standing dedication to the fields. MoMA at NGV explores the deep-seated connections between twentieth-century art and design practice, in particular, movements that shaped Europe in the 1920s and ’30s, which is sure to inspire architects and designers alike.

A model of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.

When talking about the collaboration and the exhibition itself, Tony Ellwood, NGV’s Director says, “This exhibition showcases an unparalleled collection of modern and contemporary art and design, which has been collected by The Museum of Modern Art. We are absolutely delighted to be working alongside The Museum of Modern Art to bring such an extraordinary and diverse selection of works to Melbourne. Visitors to the National Gallery of Victoria will be able to experience firsthand the monumental change and creativity in the development of modern art and consequently over time, and appreciate such an array of contemporary art and design with greater understanding.”

The exhibition is curated into eight somewhat chronological themes – ‘Arcadia and Metropolis’, ‘The Machinery of the Modern World’, ‘A New Unity’, ‘Inner and Outer Worlds’, ‘Art as Action’, ‘Things as They Are’, which is the largest section and features Pop art and Minimalism, ‘Immense Encyclopedia’ follows and the final section is titled ‘Flight Patterns’.

MoMA at NGV will be on display at NGV International from 9 June 2018 – 7 October 2018. Tickets required.

All exhibition photography by Tom Ross.

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