Opening and Closing in February

A big theme to start us off this month at London's Royal Academy. Entangled Pasts, 1768-Now: Art, Colonialism and Change brings together more than 100 contemporary and historic artworks to examine empire and slavery. Joshua Reynolds, John Singleton Copley and JMW Turner on the one hand, Lubaina Himid, Yinka Shonibare and John Akomfrah on the other. It's on from February 3 to April 28. 

Also at the RA, in a free display from February 17, is Flaming June, Frederic Leighton's masterpiece, a sensuous artwork that's absolutely stunning when you see it in the flesh, as it were, even if you don't normally much like Victorian painting. Usually housed in a museum in Puerto Rico, it's on show alongside others by Leighton and his contemporaries and works that inspired him. No rush, it can be seen till January 12 next year. 

There'll be less classical drapery and a lot more contemporary modishness on display in Sargent and Fashion at Tate Britain from February 22. John Singer Sargent was famed for his portraits in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and this show, featuring almost 60 of his paintings, looks at how he used costume to craft the image of his sitters. Previously on at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the exhibition runs in London until July 7. 

Imagine: Yoko Ono is 90. She's been making conceptual, multidisciplinary and participatory art since the mid-1950s, and Tate Modern has assembled more than 200 works for her largest ever exhibition in the UK, entitled Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind. On from February 15 to September 1, before heading on to the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf.

If you're less of a bed-in-for-peace type, you might be more attracted to Legion: Life in the Roman Army at the British Museum. This exhibition aims to explore the West's first modern, professional fighting force through the eyes of those who served in it and their families, stationed in bases from Scotland to the Red Sea, through surviving documents and artefacts. This one's on from February 1 to June 23. 

At the Science Museum, Zimingzhong: Clockwork Treasures from China's Forbidden City showcases 23 intricate and ornate mechanical timepieces collected by Chinese emperors in the 18th century and looks at their role in early cultural exchanges between Britain and China. It's the first time they've been on show in the UK, and the Science Museum is asking visitors to pay what they can, with a minimum of £1. February 1 to June 2. 

Great Escapes at the National Archives in Kew tells the stories of prisoners of war and civilian internees during World War II and how they attempted to flee from captivity or to maintain their spirits, including previously undisplayed documents. Airey Neave's escape from Colditz dressed as a German officer is among the events narrated. On from February 2 to July 21, and it's free of charge. 

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is renowned for its collection of Victorian art, but it's been largely shut for several years, with star pieces touring to the US. They're now back in the city, featuring in Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Gas Hall exhibition space from February 10. Among others, there'll be Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and of course Ford Madox Brown's powerful The Last of England. As we said earlier, even if you don't normally much like Victorian painting....

One of the most enjoyable shows we've seen recently was Turning Heads at the KMSKA in Antwerp, looking at the studies of faces, characters and costume that were such a central part of the work of so many Dutch and Flemish artists. Featuring Rembrandt, Rubens and Vermeer, the exhibition reopens at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin on February 24. It's on till May 26. 

Meanwhile, transferring from Dublin to Belfast is Lavery on Location, which reopens at the Ulster Museum on February 23. Born in Belfast in 1856, John Lavery travelled widely, sketching in oil to capture the flavour of the places he visited. The show runs till June 9 and can then be seen from late July at the National Galleries in Edinburgh. 

This is the 150th anniversary year of the first Impressionist exhibition, and so there are plenty of Impressionist-themed shows. Starting on February 9 you can see Impressionism and Its Overlooked Women at Ordrupgaard on the outskirts of Copenhagen. It focuses on five women artists in particular: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt and Eva Gonzalès and the much less well-known Marie Bracquemond and Marie Bashkirtseff. Running until May 20, after which the show is due to move to the National Gallery in Dublin, though no dates have been confirmed for Ireland yet. 

You'll need to head to Sweden to see the Impressionist-influenced Norwegian painter, Harriet Backer (1845-1932), around 90 of whose works are on show at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm from February 22 to August 18. She's a central figure in Norwegian art, but she's very different from her contemporary, Edvard Munch! This is a touring exhibition, and it will be moving to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris in the autumn.

Frans Hals -- he's one of the three greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age, and after last year's sell-out Vermeer exhibition, he's on this spring at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, from February 16 to June 9. Stunning portraits, brilliant, apparently effortless brushwork, and an approach that inspired the painters of the late 19th century. We're huge Hals fans and saw the National Gallery in London's version of this show a few months ago; we loved the paintings but found the presentation rather underwhelming. We suspect the Rijksmuseum will do a better job; the exhibition moves on to the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin in July. 

The year's other big anniversary marks 100 years since the publication of the Surrealist Manifesto. Think of Surrealism, and you think of Belgium and René Magritte, and so it's no surprise that Brussels has two shows starting on February 21. Imagine! at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, running until July 21, will bring you the subconscious as explored by Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray and Dorothea Tanning, among others, as well as a look at the Belgian Symbolist movement that preceded Surrealism, featuring artists such as Fernand Khnopff and Léon Spilliaert. This is another touring show, and after Brussels it will be reimagined in different form at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. 

A few minutes walk away from the Royal Museums is Bozar, and till June 16 they're showing Histoire de ne pas rire: Surrealism in Belgium. It will have work by Magritte, Paul Delvaux and many other not-so-famous Belgians, as well as by Dalí and Giorgio de Chirico. Looking for a bit more sensory overload in Brussels? Bozar is also marking the 75th anniversary of the death of James Ensor, perhaps best known for his grotesque figures in carnival masks (He's not one of our favourite painters, we must confess). James Ensor: Maestro is on from February 29 to June 23. 

We heard good things about the recent exhibition at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid looking at four centuries of achievements by women artists. It's now moving to the Arp Museum in Remagen, south of Bonn on the River Rhine, opening on February 25. Maestras: Women Masters 1500-1900 features 51 painters, with Artemisia Gentileschi, Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun and Mary Cassatt among the big names. It's on till June 16. 

Two years into Russia's war on Ukraine, and highlights of early 20th-century art from Kyiv's museums remain safely on tour in western Europe. In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine will be on at the Belvedere in Vienna from February 23 to June 2 and then transfers to the Royal Academy in London at the end of June. 

Who's the most Swiss artist you can think of? Unless you've spent some time in Switzerland, you've possibly never heard of Albert Anker (1831-1910), but Anker's hundreds of depictions of children have a particular place in the country's artistic consciousness. Anker and Childhood at the Fondation Giannada in Martigny brings together works from public and private collections across Switzerland, and it's on from February 1 to June 30. 

One more intriguing little-known artist this month: Isabel Quintanilla (1938-2017). A Spanish realist painter who achieved greater recognition in Germany, she's the subject of a retrospective at the Thyssen in Madrid -- the first-ever at the museum for a Spanish woman artist. Around 100 works -- many of them still lifes and unpeopled interiors -- reveal the painter's private world. Isabel Quintanilla's Intimate Realism runs from February 27 to June 2. 

Last chance to see....

Magritte, Rubens, Ensor, Francis Bacon and Henry Moore and quite a few surprises in a show bringing together many of the star exhibits from Flemish museums at the MAS in Antwerp. The very popular Rare and Indispensable closes on February 25. 

Images

Frederic Leighton (1830-1896), Flaming June, c. 1895, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico; Luis A Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893), The Last of England, 1852-55, Birmingham Museums Trust. Photo: Birmingham Museums Trust. 
Harriet Backer (1845-1932), Evening, Interior, 1896, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: National Museum/Børre Høstland

Isabel Quintanilla (1938-2017), Tribute to my Mother, 1971, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. © Isabel Quintanilla, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023. Photo: © bpk/Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen