From Monet to Matisse — international masterworks now in Adelaide alongside a hyper local line-up
Experience an Impressionist-inspired spring at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Monet to Matisse: Defying Tradition brings more than 90 works of art to Adelaide, in an Australian-exclusive exhibition showcasing one of the most transformative periods in Western art.
Featuring artists including Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Piet Mondrian and Helen Frankenthaler, the exhibition brings works from Ohio’s Toledo Museum of Art never seen in Australia before and traces the extraordinary century that reshaped how we see the world.
During this period, artists turned away from centuries of academic convention, choosing instead to capture fleeting light, emotion, movement and abstraction. The result was not simply a new style of painting but a cultural revolution that continues to influence contemporary art, design, fashion and visual culture today.
Visitors will journey from the shimmering landscapes of Impressionism through Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Modernism, witnessing how each generation challenged the one before it. Together, these artists responded to rapid industrialisation, scientific discovery, urbanisation, war and profound social change, constantly redefining what art could communicate and who it was for.
But while the blockbuster masterpieces are the headline act, AGSA has built an equally ambitious cultural program around them, transforming the exhibition into a season-long celebration of creativity through music, conversation, performance and hands-on making.
Open every Friday night
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Monet to Matisse is open late every Friday, transforming the Gallery into an after-hours destination where visitors can wander among world-famous artworks before settling in with live music, French-inspired food and a glass of bubbles.
Taking place in the Gallery’s Champagne Lounge, Spring Friday Nights kick off in September with a vinyl-only DJ line-up curated by Honeydripper, followed by a series of October evenings curated by Nexus Arts. As the artworks take centre stage, live music sets the mood for a different kind of gallery experience after dark, celebrating experimentation and creative expression across art forms.
Throughout August, the live music program will be curated in partnership with Creative Original Music Adelaide (COMA), inviting some of South Australia’s most exciting musicians to respond to the exhibition in their own way. Just as Monet, Matisse and their contemporaries challenged artistic convention, these performances celebrate experimentation and creative expression across disciplines.
En Plein Air SA
En plein air is a French term meaning “in the open air” or simply “painting outdoors”. Rather than working exclusively in a studio, Impressionist artists took their easels outside to paint directly from nature and observe the effects of light, weather and atmosphere firsthand.
This Spring, step outside, slow down and reconnect with nature with En Plein Air SA, as South Australia transforms into an open-air studio. Drop into one of AGSA’s free curated painting locations across the state and create your own artwork inspired by Monet to Matisse, or book into a paid workshop and learn from a local artist.
Download the free Art Guide and start painting, with locations including the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide Botanic Garden, Carrick Hill, Mount Lofty Botanic Garden, Mount Lofty House, Barossa Regional Gallery, Sauerbier House, The Cedars, Wittunga Botanic Garden and Hahndorf Academy.
Neo
Teenagers can experience the exhibition through their own lens with Neo, AGSA’s free after-hours program for young people aged 13 to 17.
Part creative workshop, part social gathering and entirely parent-free, Neo encourages young people to explore art as something living and participatory rather than something to simply observe. Live music, hands-on making and exhibition-inspired activities invite the next generation to experiment with ideas in much the same way the artists in Monet to Matisse did more than a century ago.
This season includes Neo Teen Takeover: Let’s Gogh! in October.
The Studio: Make an Impression
One of the exhibition’s most immersive experiences is The Studio: Make an Impression, where local artists Arlon Hall and Billie Justice Thomson transform AGSA’s Studio into a vibrant, interactive world inspired by the exhibition.
Drawing on the same spirit of experimentation that fuelled Impressionism and Modernism, this iteration of the Studio explores light, colour, line and shape through hands-on experimentation. Visitors of all ages are invited to layer, mix and make, contributing to an evolving collective artwork or take their work home
It’s an invitation to experience firsthand the curiosity and creative freedom that defined the artists featured throughout the exhibition.
Start at the Gallery
For younger children and their families, Start at the Gallery introduces some of art’s biggest ideas through play, storytelling and creativity.
From stepping Inside a Painting to exploring a Kaleidoscope of Colour, enjoying a Picnic & Paint En Plein Air session or discovering Music & Masterpieces, the monthly program encourages children to engage with art using all their senses.
Like the artists celebrated in Monet to Matisse, these activities remind us that creativity begins with curiosity — and that some of the best discoveries happen when we’re willing to see the world differently.
Tickets are on sale now at agsa.sa.gov.au
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