Detail from Alexandre Abel de Pujol, 'Self Portrait', 1806. © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes, Photo Claude Thériez.

Supported by the Corporate Members of the National Gallery

28 June - 28 August 2006
Sainsbury Wing Admission charge

The artist as a rebel battling against society, a tortured and misunderstood genius, has a powerful hold on our collective imagination.

This exhibition traced the development of this idea, from the birth of Romanticism through to the early 20th century and the avant-garde.

Bringing together works by many of the great artists of the period, including Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Rodin, Picasso and Schiele, it explored how they responded to Romantic ideas about creativity and deliberately cast themselves as outsiders and visionaries.

Back to Past Exhibitions