When we visit the Netherlands or come across the Dutch abroad, we always feel they know how to relax and enjoy life. Visit Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden and you'll see in their latest exhibition that this joie de vivre has a long tradition. The gallery is looking back 400 years to the birth in the city of Jan Steen, who frequently painted his countrymen having a good time. And yes, on occasion, perhaps just a little bit too much of a good time. In this show, At Home with Jan Steen -- 400 Years of Merrymaking , you will discover why the Dutch use the expression "a Jan Steen household" for a home where, well, things are maybe just a bit too free and easy. This is the painting that sums it up: What a jolly time everyone is having in The Merry Family . To the accompaniment of music, they are indeed making merry: singing, drinking and smoking. All are taking part; the old, the young, and even a baby wielding a spoon. The baby's not partaking of the alcohol or tobacco, adm...
Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon are the stars of Tate Britain's big overview of British 20th-century figurative painting, All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life, which starts on February 28 and runs until August 27. It promises about 100 works, with Walter Sickert, Stanley Spencer and Frank Auerbach among the other artists featured.
Over at the National Gallery, a small free display in Room 1 marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of Bartolome Esteban Murillo by showcasing his only two known self-portraits. They can be seen from February 28 to May 21.
Dulwich Picture Gallery's new exhibition is devoted to the Canadian artist David Milne, a contemporary of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, the subjects of an enlightening Dulwich show a few years ago. David Milne: Modern Painting opens February 14 and is on until May 7.
The Victoria & Albert Museum has a new show looking at the golden age of luxury sea travel: Ocean Liners: Speed & Style. Running from February 3 to June 10, it will explore in more than 250 objects the design and cultural impact of a mode of a transport that's now virtually disappeared.
Outside London, Chichester's Pallant House Gallery will draw on its significant collection for POP! Art in a Changing Britain, which starts on February 24. Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi are among the artists featured until May 7.
Finally, there's a big Rubens exhibition arriving at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt from Vienna, where it had good reviews. Rubens: The Power of Transformation includes 31 paintings by the Flemish master, and Titian and Tintoretto are also represented. Running from February 8 to May 21, the exhibition aims to show how Rubens drew on the art of previous generations and why he's still an artist to be reckoned with.
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