Evolution, Word, Thing

Curated by Serge Lemoine, who has managed to bring a wide range of viewpoints to bear upon his project, the exhibition, De Puvis de Chavannes à Matisse et Picasso, at the Palazzo Grassi sheds abundant light on an issue that has forever been exercising historians, even though, as far as the 19th century is concerned, it has been somewhat back-burnered. The issue of evolution has always been the real proof of the means and methods of art history, especially when the terms of evolution tend to a..