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...
Vincent van Gogh wasn't an easy man to get along with. "Few could put up with him and his fanatic fierceness," recalled Anthon van Rappard, who became friends and started painting with him in 1880 in Brussels. "Our relations lasted five years, and if I hadn't stayed calm during his outbursts, they wouldn't have endured so long." Van Gogh's Inner Circle , an exhibition at the Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch in the southern Netherlands, takes us through a history of Vincent's relationships -- blazing rows and simmering confrontations with his family and with fellow artists, as well as his deepest, most durable friendship with his younger brother Theo. It's a fascinating topic, but a rather underwhelming show. There are a lot of letters in glass cases, which is perhaps not surprising in an exhibition about friendships and working partnerships. But ultimately, particularly when we get to the late blossoming of van Gogh's car...