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...
"I like either extreme novelty or things of the past," said Berthe Morisot. Just what that meant for her art is revealed in Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impresssionism , a sparkling, fresh show at Dulwich Picture Gallery in south-east London, and an exhibition that changed our view of the leading woman Impressionist. We were a little bit apprehensive on the way to Dulwich, with lingering memories of an extensive Morisot retrospective in Lille about 20 years ago that we unexpectedly found quite dull and repetitive. This new show turns out to be a bit of a revelation, focusing as it does on her fascination with and imaginative reworking of pictures by French and British 18th-century artists. And as for some of her late work.... it's so reminiscent of Edvard Munch. We certainly weren't expecting that. This Self-Portrait is the very first picture in the exhibition. Morisot painted it in her mid-40s, and it's a very self-assured picture, and a very modern one. Her palette...