(movie magic) Montreal’s Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, October 10-21, rolls out the red carpet for new feature films, shorts and experimental media from around the world. See Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, based on Montreal author Yann Martel’s novel, Simon Galiero’s La Mise à l’aveugle, Martin Villeneuve’s sci-fi Mars et Avril, screenings of work by French singer Albin de la Simone, Sarah Polley’s new doc Stories We Tell, plus kid-friendly fare in the Little wolves (Les P’tits loups) section, experimental media art in the FNC Lab and a “waterfalls” exhibition at Place des Spectacles, free music shows (like The Hallicrafters and Ben Shemie on October 13 at Agora Hydro-Quebec), parties, and much more.

(high art renewed) Ballet isn’t what it used to be in choreographer Jiří Kylián’s Kaguyahime, The Moon, based on a culturally influential 10th-century Japanese folk tale of beauty, violence and worlds colliding, performed by dancers of Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, October 11-27. The Orchestre Métropolitain adds volume to great moments in cinematic history, from Psycho to Star Wars, playing works by several film composers, conducted by Simon Leclerc, on October 18 at the Maison symphonique de Montréal. Meanwhile, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra welcomes mezzo-soprano Susan Graham to sing Ernest Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, on October 16 and 17.

(theatre scene) The play’s the thing this fall as Montreal theatres open the season with as much drama as fun. Old Montreal’s Centaur Theatre features two shows this month: Scapegoat Theatre’s version of Euripedes’ psycho-sexual, metaphysical tragedy The Bacchae, to October 20, and Quebecois playwright Jean Marc Dalpé’s family drama August, An Afternoon in the Country. Another Quebecois playwright Suzie Bastien dives deep with The Medea Effect, exploring universal fears and existential questions about the archetypal – and personal – role of the mother, at Theatre La Chapelle,  October 11-20. Meanwhile, it’s all song and dance with Broadway musical Guys and Dolls at the Segal Centre, to October 31, and, not quite theatre, but comedian Russell Peters is at the Bell Centre on October 15.

(art and history) The beauty and the history of art come together at the MMFA this fall in their exhibition A History of Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Clark, featuring Impressionist masterpieces by Renoir, Bonnard, Corot, Cassatt, Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Millet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley and Toulouse-Lautrec. Down the street at the McCord Museum, see the city of Montreal and other cities around the world through the eyes of Italian photographer Mimmo Jodice, in his solo exhibition Sublime Cities. And the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal recently opened an amazing retrospective of the work of Montreal painter Pierre Dorion, along with high-Arctic video work by Brooklyn-based artist Janet Biggs.

(ska-tastic sounds) The Montreal Ska Fest packs a lot of punch into its fourth year, with horn-blowing, toe-tapping, body-skanking shows October 11-14, including a massive “All-Skanadian” (get it?) show at Club Soda on Saturday, October 13 with The Planet Smashers, The Johnstones, Illscarlett and more. On Friday night, it’s the New York City Showcase, with Victor Rice vs The M7, The Forthrights and more at Petit Campus, while Sunday morning closes the festival with a good greasy breakfast of eggs, toast, coffee and ska with Mitch Girio, at Ye Olde Orchard.

(more music) The OFF Jazz Festival comes to a close Friday, October 12 with bassist-composer William Parker conducting Fragrances of Compassion for Lawrence D. Butch Morris, a piece for 15 musicians, at La Sala Rossa. Also on Friday, LA-based electronic music producer Flying Lotus gets our bodies moving at SAT. On Saturday night, enjoy the sweet singer-songwriter sounds of Montreal talents Mark Berube and Katie Moore at Cabaret du Mile End, while blues-rock rocks on with Colin James at Metropolis. Monday night is one big party with rumba-rooted Congolese band Staff Benda Bilili at the Rialto Theatre. On October 16, none other than Barbra Streisand is at the Bell Centre, or if Babs isn’t your thing, maybe Alanis Morissette is – she’s at Metropolis, or get down and dance at OohLaLA! Festival, at the SAT. Public Image Limited rocks the Corona Theatre on October 17 and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion follows  the next night. Also on October 18, the three great men of might Rush bring their Clockwork Angels Tour to the Bell Centre.

The post THINGS TO DO IN MONTREAL: October 12-18 appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

Welcome to A History of Impressionism, a travelling exhibition of 75 works usually housed at The Clark in small-town Massachussetts. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute is a world-renowned institution nestled in the Berkshires, founded by the Clarks in 1950 to house their personal – and jaw-dropping – art and artifact collection. It counts many of the most history-changing French paintings the world has known, and now they’re here in our fair city! Here are five masterpieces you just can’t afford to miss seeing in the flesh.

The Snake Charmer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme: An icon of the Orientalist fashion so popular in the 19^th century, this painting is one of Gérome’s most detailed and jewel-coloured works in the academic style developed at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Sterling Clark grew up with this work in his living room, and had his own chance to purchase it year later, after his father had sold it. The smooth skin of the young boy contrasts with the scales of the snake in a way that heightens this risky conflation of innocence with danger.
The Bath, by Berthe Morisot: One of the only female Impressionists as well as a member of the haute bourgeoisie, Morisot was no exception to the restricting rules of conduct that governed women of the time. Therefore unlike many of her fellow artists, she refrained from painting exterior scenes and rather painted scenes that she was intimate with, like a woman’s toilette. Here, the brushstroke and inventive mix of colours – everything from pale blue to rich yellow figures in the pale pink background – are quintessentially Impressionistic.

A Box at the Theatre (At the Concert), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir: There’s a reason Renoir has become synonymous with chocolate boxes and romance: he spent much of his career illustrating his love of the female form, painting women and feminine sensuality in soft-brushed tones of pretty pink punctuated by high-octane detailing. Here, two pale-faced girls sit patiently waiting in a lushly-velveted theatre box. Unlike some of his Impressionist brethren, Renoir had a fascination for scenes of urban life rather than pastoral settings.

Dancers in the Classroom, by Edgar Degas: Renowned for his countless paintings of ballerinas (you’ll find them reprinted of cups and umbrellas in museum shops the world over), Degas has rarely composed his space as interestingly as in this painting. The majority of the foreground is dominated by a wide open space in the dance room. This breathing space, which makes the pretty dancers and their prink and red accessories stand out that much more, shows the influence of Japanese wood cuts on the French painter.

Young Christian Girl, by Paul Gauguin: Recognized as one of his most “modern” works, this painting by Gauguin makes it clear why he was deemed a peerless colourist. This celebration of yellow makes the painting’s subject, a praying girl, altogether secondary to the formal qualities of its shapes and hues, therefore showing the great influence of the artist’s stay in Tahiti. Local art and the brilliant colours of the island’s natural environment encouraged the painter to play with flattened forms and an unrealistically expressive palette.

THE DETAILS

A History of Impressionism, October 13, 2012 to January 20, 2013

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1380 Sherbrooke West, (514) 285-2000

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