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Rembrandt & van Hoogstraten: The Art of Illusion

It takes a split second these days to create an image, and how many millions are recorded daily on mobile phones, possibly never to be looked at again? You can see it all happening in the palatial surroundings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, definitely one of those tick-off destinations on many travellers' bucket lists, where those in search of instant pictorial satisfaction throng the imposing statue-lined staircase for a selfie or pout for a photo in the café under the spectacular cupola. But we're not in Vienna for a quick fix, we're at the KHM to admire something more enduring in the shape of art produced almost 500 years ago by Rembrandt and his pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten that was intended to mislead your eyes into seeing the real in the unreal. Artistic deception is the story at the centre of  Rembrandt--Hoogstraten: Colour and Illusion , one of the most engrossing and best-staged exhibitions we've seen this year. And, somewhat surprisingly, a show wi...
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What's On in 2019: Rembrandt, Leonardo, Van Gogh

A couple of big anniversaries dominate the 2019 exhibition calendar: It's 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci's death, and 350 since Rembrandt's. Van Gogh is celebrated in two major shows, while Bridget Riley and Antony Gormley are among the leading contemporary artists in focus. Here's a look at some of the standout dates for the diary in 2019, in more or less chronological order.

January

The first big show of the New Year comes at Tate Modern in London, with Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory opening on January 23. The Tate is promising 100 of Bonnard's greatest works from museums and private collections around the world. Until May 6.
To mark Rembrandt Year in the Netherlands, the Mauritshuis in The Hague is putting on show all of the 18 paintings in its collection that are by Rembrandt or have been attributed to him. January 31 to September 15.

February

Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing will see drawings by Leonardo in the Royal Collection exhibited simultaneously in 12 cities around the UK from Southampton to Glasgow from February 1 to May 6. All the drawings and more will come together in the Queen's Gallery in London in May before a selection is shown in Edinburgh later in the year.

The Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam joins in the Rembrandt celebrations by showing All the Rembrandts it has in its collection: That's 22 paintings (the largest number of any gallery in the world), 60 drawings and more than 300 prints. February 15 to June 10.
Like the Dutch, the Danes also had a Golden Age of art -- in their case in the first half of the 19th century, with Christen Købke perhaps the pre-eminent exponent. Realism meets romanticism in The Danish Golden Age at the recently renovated National Museum in Stockholm from February 28 to July 21. More than 300 works will be on show in an exhibition that goes home to Copenhagen in August and on to Paris in early 2020.

March

Continuing on a Danish theme, the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris is devoting a show to Vilhelm Hammershøi from March 14 to July 22. The exhibition features 40 pictures including loans from major Scandinavian museums as well as works by other artists in Hammershøi's circle.

In London, the Royal Academy features Titian, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Cranach and Dürer in its examination of The Renaisssance Nude, which runs from March 3 to June 2. Meanwhile, at the National Gallery, Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light will be the first show for more than a century in the UK to focus on Spain's leading Impressionist. March 18 to July 7.
And at Tate Britain, Van Gogh and Britain will aim to show how he was inspired by Britain and in turn influenced British artists. With 45 works by van Gogh, it's the largest presentation of his paintings in the UK for nearly a decade. March 27 to August 11.

May

More than 200 of the Royal Collection's Leonardo drawings go on show at the Queen's Gallery in London on May 24. It will be the largest exhibition of Leonardo's work in over 65 years. Until October 13.

June

Rembrandt goes to Madrid on June 25 for Velázquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer, a show bringing together masterpieces by the stars of the Dutch Golden Age and their Spanish contemporaries. The exhibition at the Prado also features artists such as Hals and Ribera. On till September 29, after which it transfers to the Rijksmuseum.

The Scottish National Gallery is staging a comprehensive survey of the dazzling abstract work of Bridget Riley's 70-year career -- the first such exhibition in the UK for 16 years. It runs from June 15 to September 22 and will go on to the Hayward Gallery in London.

August

The big exhibition exploring The Golden Age of Danish Painting moves to the Danish National Gallery in Copenhagen on August 24, continuing to December 8. 

September

With sculptures like the Angel of the North, Antony Gormley has changed the landscape of Britain. The Royal Academy in London is presenting what it says will be his most significant solo exhibition for over a decade. September 21 to December 3.

October

It's a bumper month. Let's start at the Louvre, where they're planning a spectacular Leonardo da Vinci show starting October 24. No other gallery has as many Leonardo paintings and the aim is to bring together as many of his works as possible for an unprecedented retrospective. Until February 24, 2020. 

Elsewhere in Paris, the Grand Palais assembles 200 works by Toulouse-Lautrec for the first retrospective of the artist in France since 1992. It's scheduled from October 9 to January 27, 2020. The Grand Palais also has a big El Greco show planned, running from October 16 to February 10, 2020.

London's National Gallery is staging the first ever show devoted to the portraits of Paul Gauguin, featuring about 50 works and running from October 7 to January 26, 2020. 

Over at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, Rembrandt's Light will assemble 35 international loans focusing on Rembrandt's mastery of light and visual storytelling. The show runs from October 4 to February 2, 2020. Meanwhile, the Rijksmuseum kicks off the Dutch leg of the Rembrandt-Velázquez spectacular on October 11. It's on until January 19, 2020.

The city of Delft is paying tribute to its second greatest painter after Vermeer with what, astonishingly, is the first retrospective exhibition of Pieter de Hooch's work to be held in the Netherlands. October 11 to February 16, 2020 at the Prinsenhof.
Then there's a first ever retrospective for the work of another great painter of Golden Age domestic scenes, Nicolaes Maes, a pupil of Rembrandt. At the Mauritshuis in The Hague from October 17 to January 19, 2020.

Fans of the Surrealists are likely to be tempted by the promise of Dalí & Magritte together at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels. October 11 to February 9, 2020. 

Back in London, the Royal Academy presents Lucien Freud: The Self-Portraits. More than 50 depictions of the artist by himself are brought together for the RA describes as a world first. October 27 to January 26, 2020.

 The National Portrait Gallery explores the untold story of the contributions of 12 women to the Pre-Raphaelite movement in Pre-Raphaelite Sisters, featuring new discoveries and unseen works. October 17 to January 26, 2020. Meanwhile, the Bridget Riley retrospective opens at the Hayward Gallery on October 23 and will be on until January 26, 2020.

 After the British take on van Gogh at the Tate, there's a German one on him at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. Making van Gogh: A German Love Story runs from October 23 to February 16, 2020 and will feature some 140 works.

November

There's one last Rembrandt show: The newly remodelled Lakenhal museum in his home city of Leiden winds up the year by looking at his early career. Young Rembrandt, which will feature about 40 paintings, runs from November 3 to February 9, 2020. If you miss it there, you can catch it in spring 2020 at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
And there's a last chance to catch 80 of those Leonardo drawings from the Royal Collection when they go on show at the Queen's Gallery at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on November 22. Until March 15, 2020. 

Images

Pierre Bonnard, Dining Room in the Country, 1913, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Wardens of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild, Known as ‘The Syndics’, 1662, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Joaquín Sorolla, The Pink Robe (La bata rosa), 1916, Museo Sorolla, Madrid. © Museo Sorolla, Madrid
Attributed to Francesco Melzi, Leonardo da Vinci, 1515-18, Royal Collection Trust. © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018
Constantin Hansen, Portrait of a Little Girl, Elise Købke, with a Cup in Front of Her, 1850, SMK, Copenhagen
Antony Gormley, Lost Horizon I, 2008, installation view, White Cube, Mason’s Yard, London. Photograph by Stephen White, London, © the artist
Pieter de Hooch, Woman and Child in a Bleaching Ground in Delft, 1657-59. © Private collection
Vincent van Gogh, Farmhouse in Provence, 1888, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. © National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Rembrandt van Rijn, Man in Oriental Costume ('The Noble Slav'), 1632, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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