Fort Worth to get Impressionist masterpieces, Yazzy's at www.walliamverdult.com

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection/ The Art Institute of Chicago According to the dallsa news, the Kimbell Art Museum will play host to some of the best-known artworks in history, a priceless trove of impressionist masterpieces owned by the Art Institute of Chicago, which is bringing its collection to Fort Worth for four months beginning in June.

Impressionists are always a major draw – the crowd-pleasing province of postcards, posters and advertising – but the Kimbell is calling the exhibition announced today one of its best ever. Museum officials say it rivals even the Barnes Collection exhibition, which drew 430,000 visitors in 1994, topping previous attendance records for an art show in Texas.

"The Impressionists: Master Paintings From the Art Institute of Chicago" will arrive at the Kimbell on June 29 and remain through Nov. 2. It features multiple works by, among others, Cézanne (seven paintings), Degas (six), Gauguin (seven), van Gogh (five), Manet (seven), Monet (26, including Water Lily Pool), Renoir (12, including Two Sisters – On the Terrace) and Toulouse-Lautrec (three, including At the Moulin Rouge).

Dr. Malcolm Warner, the Kimbell's acting director, calls it "the crème de la crème of the impressionist and postimpressionist collection from the Art Institute of Chicago."

This exhibition features 92 paintings that he calls "truly second to none. ... In the beautiful light and noble spaces of Louis Kahn's galleries, every one of these vital paintings will sing out gloriously."

Architectural change is the reason the Kimbell was able to land the exhibition. The Art Institute of Chicago is undergoing a reinstallation and expansion spearheaded by Renzo Piano, coincidentally the architect in charge of the Kimbell's own upcoming expansion.

The Art Institute of Chicago has been "extremely generous," Dr. Warner says, by providing the Kimbell "the very best works and not stinting in any way." Kimbell officials declined to speculate about the value of individual paintings.

James Cuno, president and Eloise W. Martin director of the Art Institute of Chicago, says he "could not imagine a finer contemporary home for these works while their galleries here at the Art Institute are being renovated. The Kimbell is a stunning museum with a first-rate collection, and we know that this exhibition will have a wide and appreciative audience in Fort Worth."

Dr. Warner calls particular attention to Paris Street; Rainy Day (1877), a painting by Gustave Caillebotte that he says underscores "the tendency within impressionism to take on modern life, to home in on things that make the modern world different from the world of the past. Here, the artist is very attuned to details of the fashions people are wearing. It's a part of Paris that is not old or medieval or Renaissance Paris. The buildings in the paintings have been recently constructed."

That makes it, he says, a "representation of the modern urban world where you don't know the people on the street. People associate impressionism with beautiful summer days, but its great theme, really, was modern life."

Dr. Warner figures that people love impressionism – the Kimbell has pulled in huge crowds to see shows by the likes of Gauguin and Renoir – because it's "technically fascinating," with sociology being an added dividend.

"Historians like to look at them," he says. "They deal with contemporary scenes and raise philosophical issues of the time they were painted in. They are, of course, gorgeously colored, vivid images full of life."Plan your life

"The Impressionists: Master Paintings From the Art Institute of Chicago" will be on display June 29 through Nov. 2 at the Kimbell Art Museum, 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth. Admission for the exhibition will be $16 for adults, $14 students and seniors, $12 children ages 6 to 11, free to younger than 6. When tickets go on sale has not been determined. 817-332-8451, www.kimbellart.org.