The Surprise (La Surprise) (detail), about 1718–1719, Jean Antoine Watteau, oil on panel. 
The J. Paul Getty Museum The Surprise (La Surprise) (detail), about 1718–1719, Jean Antoine Watteau, oil on panel. 
The J. Paul Getty Museum

Graceful scenes of courtship, music and dance, strolling lovers and theatrical characters: this is the imaginary world conjured by the greatest French painter and draftsman of the 18th century, Antoine Watteau. This exhibition, marking the 300th anniversary of the artist’s death, brings together a dozen of Watteau’s works from public and private collections in Los Angeles and celebrates the Getty’s recent acquisition of the painting La Surprise.

Selected Works

Publication

Watteau at Work: La Surprise

Emily A. Beeny, Davide Gasparotto, and Richard Rand


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