The Terracotta Chinese army has taken refuge in the secret underground tunnels of Skeppsholmen, located in the very center of Stockholm
Many will be curious to see the contemporary paintings of Bob Dylan exhibited in Copenhagen. In Paris, a large group exhibition of Claude Monet and an archaeological exhibition 'Gold of the Incas' are opening, while in Stockholm – another archaeological show: in the underground tunnels beneath the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, terracotta warriors from the army of Emperor Shihuangdi and other artifacts from ancient Chinese burials await us.
AUSTRIA
Cézanne, Picasso, Giacometti, September 17 – January 17, Vienna. The Leopold Museum in Vienna has prepared a large exhibition of modern art based on the collection of the Swiss Beyeler Foundation. The famous collection of Ernst and Hildy Beyeler, comprising about 200 paintings and sculptures, has been located since 1997 in Riehen, a suburb of Basel, in a building designed by architect Renzo Piano. Specifically for the Vienna exhibition, works have been selected by artists such as Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Fernand Léger, Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti. In turn, selected paintings from the Leopold Museum collection will go to the Beyeler Foundation, where on September 26 the exhibition 'Vienna 1900s' will open. //www.leopoldmuseum.org
Frida Kahlo, September 1 – December 5, Vienna. A large retrospective exhibition of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) took place this summer at the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum in Berlin, and in the autumn it will be shown at the Vienna exhibition center of Bank Austria Kunstforum. This exhibition tells the story of the era and the artist's complex life, full of turbulent political events, personal suffering related to a car accident she had to endure at age 18, and her family life with the artist Diego Rivera, and how passion for art allowed this woman to overcome pain and misfortune. The exhibition will feature about 60 paintings and 90 drawings by the artist, including numerous self-portraits, from museums and private collections in Mexico, the USA and Europe. On Fridays the exhibition will be open until 9 pm. //www.ba-ca-kunstforum.at
Picasso: Peace and Freedom, September 22 – January 16, Vienna. This exhibition has already been held at the Tate Liverpool, and now has moved to the Albertina in Vienna. The thematic exhibition is dedicated to one aspect of Pablo Picasso's life and work and is a 'challenge to the common view of the artist as an introvert, pure genius and playboy'. Pablo Picasso's political convictions, his concern for issues of war and peace are the main theme of this exhibition. It will feature more than 150 works created in his late period – from 1944 to 1973. The centerpiece will be the famous 'Dove of Peace', created in 1949 as the emblem of the World Congress of Peace Supporters. Among the exhibits, visitors will also be able to see the paintings 'The Charnel House' (1944-45, New York, Museum of Modern Art), 'Monument to the Spaniards who died for France in 1945–1947' (Madrid, National Museum Art Centre Queen Sofia), 'The Rape of the Sabine Women' (1962, National Museum of Modern Art, Paris), which was created at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world faced a new world war. On Wednesdays the exhibition will be open until 9 pm. //www.albertina.at
BELGIUM
Design September Festival, September 10 – October 2, Brussels. For the fifth time, the design festival will be held in the Belgian capital, involving about 100 artists and architects working in the fields of landscape, industrial, graphic and interior design. The festival will feature exhibitions, seminars, film screenings, conferences and master classes. Detailed information about festival venues and participants will appear on the official website in early September. //www.brusselsinternational.be
UNITED KINGDOM
Masterpieces of European Painting from Budapest Museums, September 25 – December 12, London. 'From Leonardo to Schiele' is the title of a new exhibition that opens at the Royal Academy of Arts in London at the end of September. In chronological order and thematic sections, it will feature the best paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphic works by artists of the 13th-20th centuries from the Hungarian National Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the basis of whose collection has been since 1870 the extremely rich painting collection of the Esterházy family. Visitors will see works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, El Greco, Rubens, Goya, Manet, Monet, Schiele, Gauguin, Picasso and other artists. The exhibition's main masterpiece is considered to be Raphael's painting 'Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist' (1508), also called the 'Esterházy Madonna'. //www.royalacademy.org.uk
Raphael's Cartoons and the Tapestries of the Sistine Chapel, September 8 – October 17, London. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London opens an exhibition featuring Raphael's cartoons for a series of tapestries to decorate the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican and the tapestries themselves, woven in the workshop of Peter van Aelst. The lower walls of the famous Sistine Chapel are devoid of frescoes, so on especially solemn occasions the tapestries created from Raphael's cartoons were hung there. Four of Raphael's sketches in the exhibition come from the London museum's own collection, and the tapestries come from the Vatican Pinacoteca, they will be displayed in London for the first time. The organizers warn that entry to the exhibition is free, but tickets should be booked in advance. This can be done on the museum's website. //www.vam.ac.uk
GERMANY
Graphic design of the 20th century, September 22 – January 16, Berlin. A new project is launching in Berlin museums – a cycle of graphic exhibitions "The World as a Word". The first of them will open in September in the exhibition halls of the Art Library of the Kulturforum. The exhibition is dedicated to print design and the art of typography from the period 1890-1970s. The exhibition features more than 500 posters, placards, books, magazines, posters, postcards. Among the exhibits are works in the style of Viennese Art Nouveau, Dutch avant-garde, Italian Futurism, pop art, which most significantly influenced the development of 20th century print design. //www.smb.museum
Early Vermeer, September 3 – November 28, Dresden. The semantic and compositional center of the new exhibition opening at the Dresden Picture Gallery will be three early paintings by the enigmatic Vermeer of Delft (1632-1675). These are "Diana and Her Nymphs" from the Mauritshuis in The Hague, "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" from the National Gallery of Scotland, and "The Procuress" from the Dresden museum's own collection. Visitors will have the opportunity to reflect on the formation of Vermeer's unique style, his liberation from external influences. A peculiar context for Vermeer's paintings will be works by his predecessors and contemporaries Jacob van Loo, Jan van Bijlert, Matteo Rosselli, and Simon Peter Tilmann. Completing the composition is Vermeer's painting "Girl with a Letter", which heralds the formation of the artist's mature style. //www.skd.museum
DENMARK
Paintings by Bob Dylan, September 4 – January 30, Copenhagen. An exhibition by the famous musician Bob Dylan opens at the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen. Dylan's first painting exhibition took place in 2007 – these were drawings from the series "The Drawn Blank". The Copenhagen exhibition will feature 40 works from his new "Brazil Series", created specially for this exhibition, which was prepared in close cooperation with the musician-artist. //www.smk.dk
IRELAND
Paintings by Gabriel Metsu, September 4 – December 5, Dublin. "A Rediscovered Master of 17th Century Dutch Painting" is the title of the new exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland, prepared jointly with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Little information has survived about the life of the Dutch painter Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667), especially since he died at the age of 37. Metsu's work is characterized by a great variety of subjects and styles, although throughout his career he remained faithful to the ideal of poetic tranquility that Dutch painters always aspired to. The exhibition will bring together more than 40 of the master's canvases from museums in Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, the USA, as well as from private collections. //www.nationalgallery.ie
ITALY
12th Venice Architecture Biennale, August 29 – November 21, Venice. "People Meet in Architecture" is the theme of the new Venice exhibition, announced by its current curator Kazuyo Sejima, so new architectural projects will be dedicated to finding connections between people and the man-made spaces created for them. Form, creation of environment, balance between traditions and the future, building materials – these are the main directions of the creative searches of the exhibition participants. "Architecture as Air", "Houses in the Water", "Bridges of the 21st Century", "Modernization of the Outskirts" – these are just a few of the themes of projects presented in the national pavilions and in the Arsenale. The Russian pavilion presents projects of "Factories of Russia", dedicated to the reconstruction and transformation of industrial buildings in provincial towns. One of the Japanese projects presented in the Arsenale will be accompanied by a film by Wim Wenders "If Buildings Could Talk..." //www.labiennale.org
NETHERLANDS
Rembrandt "Portrait of Jan Six", September 7 – November 29, Amsterdam. The main autumn exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will be an exhibition of a single portrait. This is an almost unique opportunity to see the painting "Portrait of Jan Six", created by Rembrandt in 1654 and kept for more than 350 years in the Six family. This portrait is considered one of Rembrandt's best canvases. "The artist's careful caution, and then a sudden stroke, the fundamental composition, and then the lightest instrumentation, they create a joyful miracle of painting" (Max Eisler). In addition to the portrait of Jan Six – a manufacturer, poet, art collector, and future burgomaster – the exhibition will feature several engravings by Rembrandt, including several portraits of Six in the library. //www.rijksmuseum.nl
TodaysArt Festival of Contemporary Art, September 24-25, The Hague. More than 100 artists from 25 countries will present design projects, paintings, sculptures, interactive installations, photographs, and videos at the TodaysArt festival of contemporary art. The venue for the festival will be the city center – its streets, museums, and art galleries. The daily schedule this weekend for anyone wanting to get acquainted with contemporary art in The Hague is as follows: morning and afternoon – exhibitions and presentations, evening and night – musical concerts. //www.todaysart.nl
FRANCE
Exhibition of Claude Monet, September 22 – January 24, Paris. A large retrospective exhibition of one of the "main" French Impressionists, Claude Monet (1840-1926), will open at the end of September at the National Gallery of the Grand Palais in Paris (Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais). Visitors will see Monet's early landscapes (views of the Forest of Fontainebleau), city sketches, portraits, seascapes, as well as paintings from the famous "series" of late Monet. About 200 works have been assembled specially for this exhibition from European museums and private collections. The exhibition will be open daily from 9:00 to 22:00 (NB: most European museums close at 6-7 pm), on Tuesdays until 14:00. According to the organizers, it is better to book tickets for the exhibition in advance. //www.monet2010.com
Gold of the Incas, September 10 – February 6, Paris. A new archaeological exhibition dedicated to the famous Inca empire, which occupied a large territory in South America in the 11th-16th centuries, opens at the Pinacotheque de Paris. Inca culture arose from the cultures of earlier civilizations, which will also be reflected in the exhibition, although the main emphasis will be on the famous gold artifacts associated with the cult of the Sun. Visitors will gain an understanding of the social structure of the Inca state, religious and everyday rituals, sciences and crafts, architecture and art. Many exhibits have been specially provided for the exhibition by museums in Peru. //www.pinacotheque.com
SWEDEN
China's Terracotta Army, August 28 – January 16, Stockholm. A new exhibition opened at the end of August in the secret underground tunnels of Skeppsholmen, located in the very center of Stockholm beneath the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. Interestingly, these underground spaces are opening to the public for the first time, as they previously housed part of the main base of the Swedish navy. The main idea of the exhibition, according to the organizers, is to give visitors the same feeling of awe and admiration that archaeologists experienced in 1974 when they discovered 8,099 life-sized terracotta warrior statues near the tomb of Chinese emperor Qin Shihuangdi. These warriors were created in the 2nd century BC; about 700,000 people are thought by modern scholars to have participated in the creation of the "Terracotta Army". Scholars were amazed that each warrior had individual features and the statues were painted. The Stockholm exhibition presents 320 artifacts from the burials of several Chinese emperors, including 10 warriors from Shihuangdi's famous army. //www.ostasiatiska.se
SWITZERLAND
Paintings and graphics by Andy Warhol from the early 1960s, September 5 – January 23, Basel. A new exhibition opening at the Kunstmuseum Basel is dedicated to the beginning of Andy Warhol's (1928-1987) artistic career. Prior to this, he had already gained fame in the advertising business, so the early 1960s can be considered a time of development of the pop art master's style and technique. The exhibition will feature his objects from the series "Campbell's Soup Cans", "Elvis", "Liz", and the first works from the series "Flowers". //www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch
Vienna in the 1900s, September 26 – January 16, Basel. At the end of September, the Beyeler Foundation will open an exhibition dedicated to one of the most interesting periods in the development of Austrian art – Viennese Modernism. It will reflect the vibrant artistic life of Vienna in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the emergence of the Secession and the birth of the "Secession style" in painting, graphic arts, architecture, and decorative and applied arts. There visitors will be able to see works by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele, photographs of architectural objects, furniture, and design items. //www.fondationbeyeler.ch