AUSTRIA
Art Nouveau Jewelry, February 25 – June 20, Vienna. The Leopold Museum in Vienna opens a major exhibition of Art Nouveau jewelry titled "Splendor of the Era." The exhibition is based on a collection from the Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt), assembled by the Dutch court jeweler Carel Citroen. From 1952 to 1959, Citroen collected the finest Art Nouveau jewelry created by such artisans as René Lalique, André-Fernand Thesmar, Lucien Gaillard, and Georges Fouquet (the latter also created pieces based on designs by Alphonse Mucha). Viennese Art Nouveau jewelry has been provided for the exhibition by private collectors. //www.leopoldmuseum.org
Monsters in Art, until May 1, Vienna. The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna has prepared "Exhibition-Intermezzo No. 3," dedicated to the history of evil and nightmares personified in mythological creatures from Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque, and Romanticism. The exhibition will feature exhibits from various KHM collections: flower vases, weapons, tapestries, sculptures, and paintings by Hugo van der Goes, Raphael, Rubens, Crespi, Moretto da Brescia, and other artists. //www.khm.at
BELGIUM
Venetian and Flemish Masters, until May 8, Brussels. The main theme of the recently opened exhibition at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels is the mutual influence and peculiar rivalry between two European schools of painting of the 15th-18th centuries: the Venetian and the Flemish. Four halls present a four-century history of the coexistence of the two schools through a juxtaposition of portraits, landscapes, mythological and biblical paintings by famous Venetians and Flemings. The exhibition features about 70 paintings by Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto, Guardi, Canaletto, Van Eyck, Bouts, Jordaens, and Rubens from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo. //www.bozar.be
UNITED KINGDOM
"Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World," March 3 – July 3, London. More than 200 artifacts from the National Museum of Kabul, currently under reconstruction, will be presented in a new exhibition at the British Museum. In ancient times, Afghanistan was a true crossroads of the Silk Road and thus a meeting point of many ancient civilizations and cultures. The earliest objects on display date back to 2000 BC – they were discovered during excavations at Tepe Fullol. Visitors will also see artifacts from the "Bactrian Gold" collection, which seven employees of the Kabul Museum hid from the mujahideen and the Taliban for 15 years. //www.britishmuseum.org
The American Experiment, March 3 – May 30, London. The National Gallery in London will soon open a new exhibition dedicated to the work of early 20th-century American artist George Bellows (1882-1925) and the New York artistic group "The Eight," which critics called the "Ashcan School" for its penchant for depicting slums and shadowy aspects of big city life. Visitors will see works by Robert Henri, John Sloan, Everett Shinn, Ernest Lawson, Maurice Prendergast, and other artists. //www.nationalgallery.org.uk
GERMANY
Architectural Drawings by Olbrich, March 3 – June 13, Berlin. On the 100th anniversary of the acquisition of the graphic collection of renowned Austrian architect Joseph Maria Olbrich (1867-1908), the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin has prepared a new exhibition "Architectural Dreams of Art Nouveau." It will feature selected drawings by Olbrich that reflect the history of the creation of the Vienna Secession, the artists' colony on Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, and the historic Tietz department store in Düsseldorf. //www.smb.museum
SPAIN
Heroines, March 8 – June 5, Madrid. "Paintings that break the canons of artistic tradition" – this is how the new exhibition at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, opening March 8, is positioned. The "heroines" of this exhibition go beyond the "female roles of mothers, servants, and sexual objects" assigned to them in art and take on unusual "non-female roles." The historical range of the paintings and sculptures on display spans from the Renaissance to the present day. The exhibits will be arranged in the following thematic sections: "Caryatids," "Maenads," "Amazons," "Fortune Tellers and Sorceresses," "Martyrs and Saints," "Female Artists in the Mirror." //www.museothyssen.org
Chardin, March 1 – May 29, Madrid. Spring at the Prado in Madrid begins with a monographic exhibition of the 18th-century French artist Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779). Throughout his career, Chardin remained true to intimate art; he was called a true continuer of the painting traditions of the great Dutch and Flemish masters in genre scenes and still lifes. The exhibition will feature 57 works by the artist, 11 of them from the Louvre in Paris. //www.museodelprado.es
ITALY
Lorenzo Lotto, March 2 – June 12, Rome. The exhibition halls of the Scuderie del Quirinale open a major exhibition of the famous Italian painter Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), who in his time gained fame for his independence and "artistic wandering": he worked both in Rome and in the provinces – Veneto, Lombardy, Marche, often turning down lucrative commissions. A detailed study of Lotto’s painting is the main goal of this exhibition, which will feature more than 130 paintings by the artist from the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery in London, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, and other museums. //www.scuderiequirinale.it
Impressionists, March 2 – June 19, Milan. In early March, the Palazzo Reale in Milan will open the exhibition "Masterpieces of Impressionist Painting" from the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA). The exhibition will feature paintings by artists such as Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Adolphe William Bouguereau. The exhibition is divided into ten sections presenting the favorite themes and genres of the French Impressionists. In the summer, the exposition will move to Giverny, and in the fall to Barcelona. //www.impressionistimilano.it
NETHERLANDS
Jan Steen, March 2 – June 13, The Hague. A new exhibition of paintings by the famous Dutch artist Jan Steen (1626-1679) will open in early March at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague. Steen painted portraits, landscapes, and biblical scenes, but preferred the genre scene. His ironic, multi-figure moralizing compositions brought him respect and fame. The exhibition will present about 30 works by the artist from the museum's own collection and other European collections, and in the last hall, visitors can observe the live restoration work on two paintings by Jan Steen. //www.mauritshuis.nl
FRANCE
Gustave and Martial Caillebotte: Painting and Photography, March 25 – July 11, Paris. The Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris will open an exhibition dedicated to the life of a large family in Paris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The exhibition will present 35 paintings by Impressionist artist Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) alongside original photographic prints by his brother Martial Caillebotte (1853-1910). Visitors will see 150 little-known photographs specially provided for this exhibition by private collectors. //www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
Odilon Redon, March 23 – June 20, Paris. A major retrospective exhibition of French artist Odilon Redon (1840-1916) will open at the end of March at the National Gallery of the Grand Palais. It will feature over 170 paintings, drawings, and lithographs by Redon, an original and independent artist who developed apart from all the artistic movements of his time. Exhibits for the exhibition are provided by many museums around the world and private collectors. //www.rmn.fr
SWEDEN
Passion and Vice, March 24 – August 14, Stockholm. A new cultural exhibition dedicated to issues of sexuality and morality opens at the end of March at the National Museum of Sweden. According to Gazeta.ru, it will feature more than 200 exhibits from the 16th to the 20th centuries and explore the changing perceptions of sin and virtue across different eras. Among the exhibits are chastity belts, vases, sculptures, and paintings on mythological and biblical subjects. //www.nationalmuseum.se