Felix Feneon: Anarchism and Vanguard. From Signac to Matisse

"It would not be a banal portrait, but a carefully composed picture with very carefully selected flowers and lines. A rhythmic-angular pose. A decorative Felix entering it with a hat and a flower in his hand," with these words in 1890 Paul Signac described Felix Feneon unusual portrait, which he dedicated to him. In it, Signac paid tribute to the distinctive appearance of Feneon, his generous but mysterious personality and his innovative approach to modernism.

This painting, a masterpiece from the museum’s collection, will become the central exhibit of the exhibition "Felix Feneon: Anarchism and Vanguard", the first exhibition dedicated to Feneon (1861-1944).

An art historian, editor, publisher, dealer, collector and anarchist, Feneon had a wide influence on the development of modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the late 1880s, he played a key role in defining a new movement known as neo-Impressionism, a term that he himself coined. Over the next five decades, he defended the career of artists from Georges-Pierre Sera and Signac to Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani.