Masterpieces Abu Dhabi – serie

Confirmation (c.1637–1640) by Nicolas Poussin is part of the artist’s renowned Seven Sacraments series. This painting holds a central place in the history of Western art, created by an artist regarded as a pivotal figure in the history of art in general. Touching on both spiritual and social themes, the work’s inclusion in Abu Dhabi’s Masterpieces Collection aims to attract a new global audience and to inspire future generations.This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the work, aimed at non-specialist readers with an interest in art and art history. Pierre Rosenberg’s essay comprises an in-depth study of the Confirmation and the Seven Sacraments series within Poussin’s œuvre, while Sheila McTighe analyses the notion of painting as ‘mute poetry’, aligning his work with the art of Raphael, Carracci and Domenichino. Together, these two renowned scholars’ texts provide a lucid and accessible account of this great, challenging work, accompanied by extensive illustration of the Confirmation itself, other works by Poussin, and both his precursors and contemporaries.

Pierre Bonnard was a leading figure in the transition from Impressionism to Modernism. Across his rich and varied oeuvre, he returned frequently to self-portraits, of which this 1939 example is a key late work. In its depiction of an intimate and enclosed world, the painting creates a powerful emotional impact, standing as one of the most sensitive and deeply affecting self-portraits of its time. This volume contains newly commissioned essays by Isabelle Cahn of the Musée d’Orsay, who curated the exhibition Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi, a collaboration between the Musée d’Orsay and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne in 2023, and Sarah Whitfield, who in 1998 organised a major retrospective of Pierre Bonnard at London's Tate Gallery and the New York Museum of Modern Art, featuring loans from numerous public and private collections.