A NEW ‘blockbuster’ exhibition of works by famous French painter Edgar Degas will open at the Burrell Collection in May.
The display will include all 23 works from Sir William Burrell’s own collection plus more than 50 further paintings, works on paper and sculptures on loan from museums around the world.
Discovering Degas: Collecting in the Age of William Burrell is the museum’s first international exhibition since reopening in 2022 after a multi-million pound revamp.
It will include works from collections held at The Courtauld in London, National Museums Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland and Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
Loans are supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund, the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from national collections.
Pippa Stephenson-Sit, curator of European Art at Glasgow Life Museums, who co-curated Discovering Degas, said: “Discovering Degas promises to be a vibrant, engaging exhibition.
"We are indebted to the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund and the many national and international collections who have loaned significant works, enabling The Burrell to host what promises to be a breathtaking show.”
She added: “Degas was popular with British collectors at the turn of the twentieth century, who helped ‘discover’ his appeal and innovation and his artworks remain extremely popular with visitors today.
“Indeed, we hope a whole new audience will discover Degas through this exhibition. This is also an important opportunity to better understand Degas in his entirety, both as a brilliant artist but also as a man whose opinions and ideas would not go unchallenged today.”
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Frances Fowle, senior trustee of the Burrell Collection, is collaborating with Glasgow Life Museums to curate the exhibition.
She said: “This exhibition demonstrates the whole range of the artist’s output and creates a context for Burrell’s outstanding collection. Among those who developed a taste for Degas were other Glasgow shipbuilders like William McInnes, and several women, among them the yachting enthusiast Elizabeth Workman and the musician Rosalind Maitland.”
As shown in the exhibition, through fascinating letters and other archival material, Burrell is amongst the earliest Scottish collectors to buy works by Degas. Over a 40-year period Burrell bought 23 of the artist’s works - far more than any other UK collector.
Discovering Degas: Collecting in the Age of William Burrell runs from May 24 until September 30. Tickets are priced £13.50, with concessions available, and children under 12 go free.
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