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...
So, here's a weird thing: Hockney's Eye at Teylers Museum in Haarlem isn't an easy exhibition. In fact, you have to think quite hard and look closely to get your head round David Hockney's exploration of different perspectives in art, alternative ways of seeing. But it is an extremely enjoyable and rewarding experience. We didn't get to visit this show when it was on at the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Heong Gallery in Cambridge earlier this year, but we jumped at the chance during an autumn visit to the Netherlands to explore what looks to be a rather smaller version. It was worth the wait. If you're hoping for classic 1960s and 70s Hockney like A Bigger Splash or Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy , you've come to the wrong exhibition. To be sure, there's a very jolly Self-Portrait from last year of the artist in flat cap and garish check suit, poised with his brush, as you come in, but seeing becomes far less straightforward quite quickly. Take Viewers ...