The Art Exhibitions Blog

"Silence is golden," according to the proverb, but the stillness in the paintings of Vilhelm Hammershøi is distinctly white, charcoal, and every shade of grey in between.   However, there's nothing dull about the Dane's restricted palette, as we were able to appreciate, not for the first time, in  Hammershøi: The Eye that Listens  at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. His subject matter -- so often sparsely decorated rooms in which the doors, windows and light sources become focal points -- is mesmerising.  This picture --  Sunbeams or Sunlight. Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams. Strandgade 30 -- is so very typical. Apparently empty, lacking any subject matter -- just one wall of a room with a door, panelling and a window. Yet you are captivated by the illumination, and the space. Look how Hammershøi has depicted the light coming in through the window and on the frames round the panes. See how it casts a shadow on the jambs and follow th...

Georges Seurat devised the Neo-Impressionist painting technique popularly known as Pointillism. He didn't live long and left only a small body of work, of which seascapes were a recurring motif; a couple of dozen paintings and drawings from summers spent on the northern coast of France will be brought together for  Seurat and the Sea   at the Courtauld Gallery in London from February 13 to May 17. Lucian Freud gained recognition as one of the greatest of British portrait painters for his intensely observed works, often of nudes. From February 12 to May 4, the National Portrait Gallery is putting on  Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting , which will be the first exhibition in Britain to focus on his creations on paper, some of which have never been on public display before.   Ramses and the Pharaoh's Gold  is a travelling exhibition of treasures from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities: 180 of them, with the coffin of the long-lived Ramses II among highlig...

When she was alive, Gwen John was a big name in the art world, a really big name. As we learn at the start of  Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris  at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, her pictures were so admired in France in the 1920s that "everyone knows of Miss John.... and the Salon takes all she will send them."  But after her death at the start of World War II, John gained a reputation as something of a recluse, an artist who'd worked in isolation, and she was outshone by her flamboyant brother Augustus. This show in Chichester restores Gwen to her rightful position in art history, placing her squarely among a group of groundbreaking turn-of-the-century artists including Edouard Vuillard , Pierre Bonnard and her lover Auguste Rodin, for whom she posed.   This is a captivating exhibition. John's paintings -- largely portraits and interiors -- are not loud or showy; they're incredibly restrained, with their muted tones and soft brushwork conveyi...

It may not have escaped you that it's 500 years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci, and the big exhibition in Britain to mark the anniversary opens on May 24 at the Queen's Gallery in London. Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing  brings together more than 200 drawings from the Royal Collection for the largest show of the work of the ultimate Renaissance man in more than 65 years. Running until October 13, the display includes 144 drawings that are still on show until May 6 in 12 galleries around the UK. For something completely different, head to the Museum of London Docklands for an exhibition entitled Secret Rivers , looking at the history and the art surrounding the tributaries of the Thames such as the Tyburn and the Walbrook. May 24 to October 27, and entry is free. Another significant anniversary this year: 200 years since the birth of that most influential art critic John Ruskin. Following on from the enlightening show at Two Temple Place in London, Sheffield...

He is one of the most enigmatic, the most seductive of artists. Vilhelm Hammershøi's subdued, restrained interiors are mysterious and haunting, yet at the same time somehow soothing and calming. He depicted rooms that were often empty, or in which a woman was seen from behind. Hammershøi's pictures give you the impression of time suspended. At the end of the 19th century, in Norway, Edvard Munch was painting  The Scream . In neighbouring Denmark, Hammershøi was taking a slow, deep breath and perhaps being an early practitioner of mindfulness, giving us the anti-scream. We're fans of Hammershøi and have seen a couple of memorable shows of his work in recent years, so we weren't going to miss the opportunity to get to Hammershøi, the Master of Danish Painting  at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. It's a terrific exhibition, with quite a few paintings we hadn't seen before and opening new insights into Hammershøi's work. And it's also the second fantas...