Detroit Institute of Arts · Masterpieces
From Renoir and Degas to van Gogh, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso — a 14-day journey through the 52 works Detroit saved. Learn what to look for, and how, so you can savor the day to the full.
How to use
The exhibition unfolds like a drama of art history — beginning with Courbet's Realism and moving through Impressionism → Post-Impressionism → Fauvism → Cubism → Expressionism and the École de Paris, before ending at Kandinsky's abstraction. This guide breaks that arc into a 14-day course, taking one step a day to look closely at each artist and work.
Each day's page covers ① the artist's life and breakthroughs, ② a technique guide to what to look for at the canvas, ③ viewing points and backstories for the key works, and ④ stories you won't find on a wall label. Day 14 gathers how to look, a game-day route, and a glossary — open it again the night before you go.
14-Day Course
One chapter a day, no pressure. Follow it in order and it maps onto the exhibition route.
Orientation · the museum's history & the Grand Bargain
GuideThe revolt that painted light — 1874
GuideWhere it begins — Realism
ArtistLight and atmosphere
ArtistPainter of joy, pearl-lit skin
ArtistThe dancer's instant & the elder of Impressionism
ArtistThe bridge to Modernism
GuideFather of modern art
ArtistImpasto and the soul's brushwork
ArtistSymbolist color & scientific dots
ArtistColor unleashed — Fauvism
ArtistForm dismantled — Cubism
ArtistExpressionism · École de Paris · the threshold of abstraction
ArtistHow to look · game-day plan · reference
GuideChecklist
A list of confirmed and representative works based on currently available information. Confirm the final list on site or via the official announcement.
| Artist | Work | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pierre-Auguste Renoir | The White Pierrot / The White Pierrot | 1901–1902 | Confirmed |
| Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Seated Bather / Seated Bather | 1903–1906 (between 1903 and 1906) | Confirmed |
| Vincent van Gogh | Self-Portrait (Self-Portrait with Straw Hat) / Self-Portrait with Straw Hat | 1887 | Confirmed |
| Vincent van Gogh | Bank of the Oise at Auvers / Bank of the Oise at Auvers | 1890 | Confirmed |
| Vincent van Gogh | Portrait of Postman Roulin / Portrait of Postman Roulin | 1888 | Likely |
| Paul Cézanne | The Bathers (Baigneuses) / The Bathers (Baigneuses) | c.1879–1882 | Confirmed |
| Paul Cézanne | Mont Sainte-Victoire / Mont Sainte-Victoire | 1904–1906 (between 1904 and 1906) | Confirmed |
| Henri Matisse | The Window / The Window | 1916 | Confirmed |
| Pablo Picasso | Melancholy Woman / Melancholy Woman | 1902 | Confirmed |
| Amedeo Modigliani | Portrait of a Young Woman / Portrait of a Young Woman | c.1918 | Confirmed |
| Wassily Kandinsky | Study for Painting with White Form / Study for Painting with White Form | 1913 | Confirmed |
| Camille Pissarro | The Kitchen at Piette's, Montfoucault / The Kitchen at Piette's, Montfoucault (La Cuisine chez Piette, Montfoucault) | 1874 | Likely |
Each section is also represented by artists such as Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Odilon Redon, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, André Derain, Georges Braque, Max Beckmann, Oskar Kokoschka, Vincent van Gogh. The specific checklist will be updated as official information is released.