The revolution won't happen overnight, but it's coming. And it will take place in 1874, when the rebels who'll become known as the Impressionists hold their first exhibition in Paris. To see how the Impressionists got there, and what they were rebelling against, we've come to Cologne, and the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, for an utterly enjoyable exhibition about the art of the 1860s and 70s that found official approval from the French state and from the traditionalist critics -- and the art that didn't. The show is entitled 1863 Paris 1874: Revolution in Art -- From the Salon to Impressionism , and this is the striking image that greets you as you enter, a painting that we've never seen before (it belongs to the Spanish central bank ) but which seems to sum up the entire topic for you in one go. The Catalan artist Pere Borrell del Caso actually created this trompe l'oeil in 1874, completely independently of the Impressionists. It wasn't originally called
August is normally a quiet month for new shows, but there are two exhibitions moving on this month to fresh locations that really deserve to be highlighted. At the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, the doors open on August 10 on Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light . Joaquín Sorolla is best known for his impressionistic light-filled paintings of the Spanish coast, but as the previous version of this show at the National Gallery in London demonstrated, he produced masterpieces of social realism and portraiture too. The Dublin show looks to be smaller than London's, with 50 or so works, but the best of Sorolla's work is remarkable. Until November 3. And if you're visiting Madrid at any point, Sorolla's atmospheric house and studio, now the Museo Sorolla , has a great selection of his paintings and is well worth a visit. Our tip, though, is to go somewhere less scorching in August. Copenhagen, for example. Because the best exhibition we've seen all year has f