The Art Exhibitions Blog

It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience: the chance to see one of the greatest -- and most fragile -- works of European art before your very eyes. The illustrated manuscript known as the  Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry contains images that have shaped our view of the late Middle Ages, but it's normally kept under lock and key at the Château de Chantilly, north of Paris. It's only been exhibited twice in the past century. Now newly restored, the glowing pages of  Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry are on show to the public for just a few months. "Approche, approche," the Duke of Berry's usher tells the visitors to the great man's table for the feast that will mark the start of the New Year. It's also your invitation to examine closely the illustration for January, one of the 12 months from the calendar in this Book of Hours -- a collection of prayers and other religious texts -- that form the centrepiece of this exhibition in Chantilly.  It's su...

A lot of new shows to tell you about this month as the summer holidays end and autumn arrives, all across Europe, from medieval to digital. The big event at the National Gallery in London is  Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists , running from September 13 to February 8. Kröller-Müller was a major early collector of work by the likes of Signac, Seurat, van Gogh and van Rysselberghe, and the bulk of the exhibits here come from the museum she opened in 1938 in the eastern Netherlands.    The most fashionable queen in history? That'll be Marie Antoinette, according to the Victoria & Albert Museum. And from September 20 to March 22, you can see Marie Antoinette Style  at the V&A, exploring how she became a fashion icon whose influence has lasted for more than two centuries -- down to Dior, Chanel and Manolo Blahnik. The exhibition will have more than 250 objects, some of which have never been seen before outside Versailles.  There are ...

Jean-François Millet -- one of the most influential artists of the 19th century with his depictions of toiling country folk -- is the subject of a free exhibition in just one room at London's National Gallery that opens on August 7. Millet: Life on the Land  mainly features work from British museums, but has a star attraction in the shape of  L’Angélus from the Musée d'Orsay. On until October 19.  In eastern Germany, Chemnitz is one of this year's European capitals of culture, and one of the major exhibitions on their programme starts on August 10. Edvard Munch -- Angst  in the Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz will recall, in part, a visit by Munch to Chemnitz 120 years ago. And, of course, there'll be a version of The Scream . Until November 2.  On the other side of the country, a rather different offering at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn: an exhibition devoted to the German filmmaker Wim Wenders, creator of Wings of Desire and Paris, Texas , and marking his 8...

A very eclectic mix of shows this month, and we're starting with an exhibition that's not art at all, but of vital interest to everyone. The Science Museum is investigating the Future of Food , looking at new advances in growing, making, cooking and eating it. On from July 24 to January 4, it's free, though you need to book. Oh, and you get to see this 3,500-year-old sourdough loaf..... At the Lowry in Salford, they're offering a double bill of Quentin Blake and Me & Modern Life: The LS Lowry Collection . The show about Blake, who's written or illustrated more than 500 books, looks aimed at a family audience, while the Lowry exhibition includes borrowed works, marking the Salford arts centre's 25th anniversary. On from July 19 to January 4, and entry is again free, though you need to book a timeslot.  Another anniversary this year is the 250th of the birth of Jane Austen; among the exhibitions around the country is one in Winchester, the city where she died ...

For the Victorians, art wasn't just about what you could see on the canvas; it could also activate your other senses.  Scented Visions: Smell in Art 1850-1914 at the Watts Gallery near Guildford takes you on an olfactory journey back in time. And it's also a social-history lesson, showing the way art reflected how Victorian life was not just a bed of roses. In this picture, the actress Ellen Terry is holding an eye-catching red flower close to her nose, which we assumed was so that she could inhale the fragrance. It's the poster image for this show and a perfect way to promote an exhibition about smell. But, as the wall caption points out, the blooms are camellias, which have no scent; she's acting smelling, and she must choose between the camellias and the nobler values of the humble fragrant violets in her other hand, reflecting her choice to give up the stage for life as the muse of the great Victorian artist, GF Watts, 30 years older than her, and who painted this ...

Self-portraits; now, we've seen quite a lot of exhibitions of those over the years. You know how Rembrandt or Vincent van Gogh saw themselves. But how do artists depict other artists? What happens when Peter Blake meets David Hockney, when Eric Ravilious takes on Edward Bawden? Answers can be found at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester in a very interesting and illuminating exhibition entitled  Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists .  And sometimes the artist you see is a different artist from the one you might be expecting. When Mary McCartney photographed Tracey Emin in 2000, what came out was Frida Kahlo. McCartney felt a close affinity with the Mexican artist, and so did Emin, whose controversial My Bed had just been shortlisted for the Turner Prize. McCartney said she'd had a daydream of Emin as Kahlo, who spent a lot of time in bed herself as a result of her disabling injuries.  Emin was made up and dressed for the shoot, and then, according to McCartney , "...