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...
Grinling Gibbons: indisputably Britain's most outstanding woodcarver. Petworth House in West Sussex has one of the greatest examples of his work in its Carved Room , but while that's a breathtaking ensemble of wall decorations and elaborate picture frames, it's not necessarily always so easy to pick out the fine detail of a carving several feet above your head in the subdued lighting of a National Trust stately home. That's the reason why Centuries in the Making at Bonhams in London is such an eye-opener. Here you encounter Gibbons' extraordinary skills up really close, the intricacies and the subtleties of the carving highlighted and spotlit. This exhibition, part of a year of events to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Gibbons' death, is only on in the West End free of charge for a few weeks this August, but it will be heading to Compton Verney in Warwickshire in the autumn for an extended run. This is one of the smallest objects in this exhibition, but...