Vive le Pastel! Pastel Painting from Vivien To La Tour

Joseph Vivien, Self Portrait with Fur, 1730, Bavarian State Painting Collections.

Pastels were extremely popular in the 18th century,  with the technique used by many French artists in particular and especially for lively, sensitively designed portraits.But how did this come about, what advantages did pastels have over oil paintings, who had their portraits painted in pastels – and how exactly were pastels made at the time? Vive le Pastel! explores these questions.

The focus is on the Bavarian State Painting Collections, in which such important names as Joseph Vivien, Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Rosalba Carriera and Jean-Étienne Liotard are represented with individual works. It displays for the first time the pastel paintings from the Alte Pinakothek together with those from the Staatsgalerie in the Neues Schloss Schleissheim. With a total of 23 works (including 20 pastels), the exhibition includes rarely shown, partly anonymous works from the depot and a few selected loans.