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Symphonies and Nocturnes on Canvas

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...
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Opening and Closing in July

Newly knighted Grayson Perry has one of the highest profiles in the art world, not just as a creator of pottery and tapestries, but as an author and television presenter, commenting on the big issues of our time. So no wonder the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh is staging the biggest ever exhibition of Perry's work over the summer, looking back at a 40-year career. Grayson Perry: Smash Hits is on from July 22 to November 12. 
On a distinctly smaller scale, you can explore Victorian Virtual Reality at the Watts Gallery in Compton, near Guildford. It's a look at the 19th-century craze for stereoscopic photographs that allowed images to be viewed as if in three dimensions, and it contains more than 150 pictures from a collection built up over the decades by the Queen guitarist Brian May. This one runs from July 4 right through to February 25 next year. 

Our next couple of shows are all about travels by the Impressionists, and our first stop is at the Musée des impressionismes in Giverny, north-west of Paris, where they are marking the 140th anniversary of a month-long stay on Guernsey by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. He made about 15 paintings during his time on the Channel Island. From July 14 to September 10, his trip will be the focus of Renoir in Guernsey, 1883, an exhibition that is then due to travel on to the Guernsey Museum in St Peter Port at the end of the month. 

But now let's leave the English Channel and head to the Mediterranean. At the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco from July 8 to September 3 you can find out how another leading Impressionist, Claude Monet, discovered new colours and new ways of capturing light on a series of trips to the French Riviera in the 1880s. Monet in Full Light will bring together nearly 100 paintings from across his career, centred on 23 pictures from his time on the Riviera. Monaco, you might think, bound to cost a fortune. Tickets are 14 euros; you pay £14.95 with Gift Aid at the Watts Gallery....

As we're in Provence, let's take the train along the coast from Monte Carlo to Cannes for another promising-looking exhibition at the Musée Bonnard in Le Cannet. This summer's show there investigates how artists in the rapidly changing society of the Belle Epoque period, from 1890 to World War I, treated the subjects of leisure and entertainment, with pictures of nightclubs, theatres, circuses, the seaside and more. There's work by Pierre Bonnard, Georges Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. On sort! (We're Going Out!) is on from July 1 to November 5 and tickets will set you back all of 7 euros. 
Over in Germany, the Museum Barberini in Potsdam has gathered around 100 pictures by 40 artists for Clouds and Light: Impressionism in Holland. Vincent van Gogh, Piet Mondrian and the painters of the Hague School are among those showing how the Dutch found new inspiration from developments in French art towards the end of the 19th century. It can be seen from July 8 to October 22. 

Last chance to see....

There are extended opening hours at the Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt this weekend for the final days of the splendid Caspar David Friedrich exhibition, with some iconic pictures by the greatest painter of the German Romantic movement. It closes on July 2, but there's another opportunity to catch the show when it reopens on August 26 at the Kunst Museum in the Swiss city of Winterthur. 

You have until July 23 to enjoy Museum Wiesbaden's fascinating and surprising exhibition about the little-known Oskar Zwintscher, who worked in and around Dresden in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and created some memorable portraits and landscapes. 

Images

Grayson Perry (born 1960), The Upper Class at Bay, 2012. © Grayson Perry. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro
Louis Anquetin (1861-1932), Intérieur chez Bruant (Interior at Bruant's), 1886-87, Private collection. © Fotoatelier Peter Schälchli, Zurich
Oskar Zwintscher (1870-1916), Portrait of the Artist's Wife, 1901. © Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich

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