Release Date: April 26, 2006

National Gallery of Art to Extend Hours of "CÉzanne in Provence" During its closing Weekend

Washington, DC — The National Gallery of Art announced today that the popular exhibition Cézanne in Provence will be extended for two hours during its closing weekend on Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7. On Saturday, the Gallery is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the exhibition itself will be open until 7 p.m. On Sunday, the Gallery is open from 11 a.m to 6 p.m. and the exhibition will be open until 8 p.m. From 5 p.m. on Saturday and 6 p.m. on Sunday, the exhibition will be accessible only via the West Building entrance at 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is free and there are no passes.

The year 2006 marks the centenary of the death of Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), a founding father of modern art who created some of the most powerful and innovative paintings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cézanne in Provence is the first exhibition to explore the artist’s complex emotional engagement with his birthplace through some of his most original and compelling landscapes; penetrating portraits of friends, employees, and family members; and the monumental series known as the Bathers.

After the exhibition closes on May 7, it will be on view at the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence from June 9 through September 17, 2006. It will inaugurate a series of events in honor of the artist and mark the reopening of the Musée Granet, one of France’s premier regional museums, after a major renovation. The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Musée Granet and the Communauté du Pays d’Aix, Aix-en-Provence, and the Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris.

Exhibition Support

This exhibition is made possible by a generous grant from the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund, which also sponsored Art Nouveau, 1890–1914, at the National Gallery of Art in 2000–2001.

The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Catalogue and Café Provençal

Published by the National Gallery of Art in association with Yale University Press, New Haven and London, the exhibition catalogue is available in the Gallery Shops for $45 in softcover. To order call 1(800) 697-9350 or (202) 842-6002; fax (202) 789-3047; or e-mail mailorder@nga.gov (368 pp., 330 color and 34 black-and-white illustrations).

The West Building Garden Café, one of the most distinctive dining spots in the capital, has been transformed into Café Provençal and through May 7 will continue to feature an à la carte menu and buffet offering dishes inspired by the cuisine of Provence. The menu was created by chefs Francis Robin of Le Mas du Soleil in Salon de Provence and René Bergès of the Relais Sainte Victoire in Aix-en-Provence, France, with the support of the Marseille Provence Chamber of Commerce in France, along with executive chef Thomas Marr of Restaurant Associates at the National Gallery of Art. Café Provençal is located on the Ground Floor of the West Building and is open Monday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4:00 p.m. A special concert menu is served on Sundays from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., in conjunction with the free Sunday evening concerts in the West Garden Court.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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