The James McNeill Whistler exhibition at Tate Britain is big, probably a bit too big, but it's packed with beautiful pictures and it's not in the least bit boring. That's not surprising as Whistler led a colourful life, never shying from controversy and confrontation -- notably pursuing a high-profile libel case against John Ruskin -- and he produced art that was groundbreaking, hugely influential and enormously atmospheric. Including, of course, probably one of the most recognisable paintings in art history, that of his mother in profile, dressed in black. It's in this show, and we'll be taking a look at it shortly. But we start in Whistler's studio, where the artist has painted himself at work, palette and brush in his hands, and looking out directly at us, the viewers. This is the first picture you see in the show, and we're told that for Whistler, the studio was a place for public performance, as well as making art. So here he is, making a statemen...
It may not have escaped you that it's 500 years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci, and the big exhibition in Britain to mark the anniversary opens on May 24 at the Queen's Gallery in London. Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing brings together more than 200 drawings from the Royal Collection for the largest show of the work of the ultimate Renaissance man in more than 65 years. Running until October 13, the display includes 144 drawings that are still on show until May 6 in 12 galleries around the UK.
For something completely different, head to the Museum of London Docklands for an exhibition entitled Secret Rivers, looking at the history and the art surrounding the tributaries of the Thames such as the Tyburn and the Walbrook. May 24 to October 27, and entry is free.
Another significant anniversary this year: 200 years since the birth of that most influential art critic John Ruskin. Following on from the enlightening show at Two Temple Place in London, Sheffield's Millennium Gallery is staging John Ruskin: Art & Wonder, exploring Ruskin's fascination with the natural world. May 29 to September 15, and this is another exhibition that's free of charge.
Over in Paris, the Pompidou Centre is going right back in time to the very origins of art to look at Prehistory and its influence on modern artists such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Max Ernst. Prehistory begins on May 8 and comes to an end on September 16.
Meanwhile, at the Petit Palais, swooning and sighing will be the order of the day for the story of Romantic Paris, 1815-1848, with 600 works from paintings to furniture intended to immerse the visitor in the cultural and political ferment of the age. This one runs from May 22 to September 15.
The MuMa art gallery in Le Havre is dramatically situated right by the entrance to the port, and this summer it's paying tribute to Raoul Dufy, who was born in the city in 1877 and painted it constantly. Raoul Dufy in Le Havre is on from May 18 to November 3 and features some 90 works, many on loan.
Danish art has provided two of our highlights of 2019 so far: the Golden Age exhibition in Stockholm and the Vilhelm Hammershøi show at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. If you're in northern Germany over the summer, there's a fine opportunity to see more masterpieces from Denmark in the shape of paintings from the Ordrupgaard museum on the outskirts of Copenhagen, which is currently being renovated. In the Light of the North is on at the Kunsthalle in Hamburg from May 10 to September 22 and includes perhaps our favourite Hammershøi, those Dust Motes....
We started this month's preview with Leonardo, but we're finishing with another cultural colossus: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Germany's most famous writer, the author of Faust and The Sorrows of Young Werther, was astonishingly influential across Europe at the end of the 18th and start of the 19th century. The Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn is putting on the first major exhibition about Goethe's life and work in 25 years; Goethe: Transformation of the World runs from May 17 to September 15.
Vilhelm Hammershøi, Sunbeams or Sunlight, "Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams", 1900, Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. © Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Pierre Bonnard, Nude in an Interior, c. 1935, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Another significant anniversary this year: 200 years since the birth of that most influential art critic John Ruskin. Following on from the enlightening show at Two Temple Place in London, Sheffield's Millennium Gallery is staging John Ruskin: Art & Wonder, exploring Ruskin's fascination with the natural world. May 29 to September 15, and this is another exhibition that's free of charge.
Over in Paris, the Pompidou Centre is going right back in time to the very origins of art to look at Prehistory and its influence on modern artists such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Max Ernst. Prehistory begins on May 8 and comes to an end on September 16.
Meanwhile, at the Petit Palais, swooning and sighing will be the order of the day for the story of Romantic Paris, 1815-1848, with 600 works from paintings to furniture intended to immerse the visitor in the cultural and political ferment of the age. This one runs from May 22 to September 15.
The MuMa art gallery in Le Havre is dramatically situated right by the entrance to the port, and this summer it's paying tribute to Raoul Dufy, who was born in the city in 1877 and painted it constantly. Raoul Dufy in Le Havre is on from May 18 to November 3 and features some 90 works, many on loan.
Danish art has provided two of our highlights of 2019 so far: the Golden Age exhibition in Stockholm and the Vilhelm Hammershøi show at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. If you're in northern Germany over the summer, there's a fine opportunity to see more masterpieces from Denmark in the shape of paintings from the Ordrupgaard museum on the outskirts of Copenhagen, which is currently being renovated. In the Light of the North is on at the Kunsthalle in Hamburg from May 10 to September 22 and includes perhaps our favourite Hammershøi, those Dust Motes....
Last chance to see two shows in London....
You have until May 6 to get along to Tate Modern for Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory. The best bits are great: some gorgeously colour-saturated views of the south of France and wonderful intimate interiors, though there's also a chunk of less thrilling murky splodge. The exhibition moves to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen in June and then on to the Kunstforum in Vienna in October.
May 19 is the final day to see the superb Elizabethan Treasures show at the National Portrait Gallery, featuring miniatures by England's first great artists, Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver. Small, beautiful and absolutely stunning.
Images
Leonardo da Vinci, A Standing Male Nude, c. 1504-6, Royal Collection Trust. © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2019Vilhelm Hammershøi, Sunbeams or Sunlight, "Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams", 1900, Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. © Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Pierre Bonnard, Nude in an Interior, c. 1935, National Gallery of Art, Washington
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