Yerres, France — This is a fabulous destination just 20 minutes from Paris. The Maison Caillebotte is nestled in a sprawling park filled with period buildings from the 19th century like the Kiosque which served as an ice-house, perched on a low-lying hill and the Swiss Chalet which today houses a restaurant and tea salon and there is a wonderful kitchen garden. But the center piece of the estate is the 19th century manor house that was the home of the Caillebotte family in the 19th century. It was here that the French painter Gustave Caillebotte spent his childhood and part of his life. The home and its outlying buildings have been meticulously restored to their 19th century glory.

While the home and estate are worth a visit in and of their own, the Caillebotte estate hosts beautifully-curated temporary art exhibitions. Currently on the agenda is a show devoted to modern Portuguese artists within the context of the Year of France-Portugal 2022. It is a fitting show to be a part of the France-Portugal year of celebrations for from the 19th century well into the 20th, Paris was the great destination for Portuguese artists in search of modernism. The Modernist Portuguese Art exhibition is currently on show in the estate’s ornamental farm and it covers the period from 1910 until the 1970s and offers a panorama of Portuguese artists of different generations and of different styles.

The exhibition takes the visitor into three key periods in the Modernist movement of Portuguese artists with works dating from the first part of the 20th century by Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, Eduardo Viana, Almada Negreiros, and the French artists the Delaunays who spent time in northern Portugal. The show puts the spotlight on an important aspect of these early modernists, their interest in traditional Portuguese culture which Sonia Delauney was particularly keen on. Two women artists are featured Sarah Affonso (1899-1983) and Ofélia Marques (1902-1952). And the worlds of Vieira da Silva and Árpád Szenes living and working in Paris. The couple was stateless until their naturalization in 1956 and Parisian. The show winds up with the little known works of Portuguese surrealism founded in 1940.

It is a vibrant and highly colorful show and it reveals a world of 20th century art to the public at large in the wonderful Caillebotte estate.
©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette
Additional Reporting: Sylvain Loire
Temporary exhibition until October 30th. There will be a conference (in French) on October 8th entitled Art and Literature in Portugal.
The Ornamental Farm and Caillebotte House are open from mid-March to mid-November from 2pm until 6:30pm
The park is open year round.
https://www.maisoncaillebotte.fr/
8 rue de Concy,
91330 Yerres, France
+33 (01) 80 37 20 61