Decorative Elements Explored in Exhibit

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Created mainly for private European apartments and mansions around the turn of the last century, 85 colorful paintings by four French Post-Impressionists have been brought together for the exhibition "Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis and Roussel, 1890-1930" at the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibit features works in unusual formats ranging from mural-like and intimate-scale wall and door paintings to folding screens. Coorganized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibit is on view in Chicago until May 16 and will then travel to New York from June 26 to Sept. 9.

Known as decorations, the paintings and …