What a lot of new exhibitions this October! We list well over 20 across Europe below -- many more than usual -- and have still had to leave out quite a few that we'd mention in most other months in order to keep this post to a reasonable length. Let's start at the Royal Academy in London with deep blue seas, cloudless skies, intense light and the heat of the sun. From October 2 to January 31, you can experience the excitement Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and many others felt while Painting the French Riviera . The exhibition features more than 160 exhibits from the 1870s to the 1960s, and a version of the show travels on to the Cleveland Museum of Art in March. Hmm, Renoir. Now perhaps seen as the most chocolate-boxy of the Impressionists, but without doubt the creator of some of the most recognisable images in French art of the late 19th century. Well worth stealing , and clearly the National Gallery is on to a winner with its Renoir and Love ex...
Surrealism: It can be so full of wit and invention, so thought-provoking. At its worst, though, it can be mind-numbingly dull and repetitive. Exhibitions about Surrealism seem to oscillate between the two extremes as well. Having been to quite a few, we're delighted to say that Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design 1924-Today at the Design Museum in London is one of the best. This is a big and wide-ranging show, and we happily spent more than two hours seeing some objects that were very familiar, and some that weren't. We laughed out loud quite a bit. Think of Surrealist objects, and the chances are that Salvador Dalí's Lobster Telephone and Mae West Lips Sofa will come to mind, and of course they are here, right at the start of the exhibition, as eye-catching and intriguing as ever. What a bizarre yet beautiful piece of furniture the sofa is. Dalí created it at the suggestion of his friend and patron, Edward James, for his Monkton House residence on the West Dean...