Sunshine isn’t everything. There are only so many days you can lie by a pool sipping cocktails and working on your tan. Haven’t you heard about the dangers of melanomas?
And anyway, some of us prefer to spend those dreaded sunny days somewhere cool, calm and cultural. There is nothing better than escaping the car-choked, thick-aired, smothering blanket of hot city days than by stepping into the marble and concrete shade of a gallery and taking in some art. A treat for the body and the mind.
But where are the exhibitions that need to be seen this summer? Here’s a whistlestop European tour of some of the best art on offer.
London is always good value if it’s an arty holiday you are after. (Financially, maybe not so much). This summer you can take in Frans Hals and Caravaggio at the National Gallery (you have to wait until September for a new Van Gogh exhibition), four centuries of Britain’s female artists at Tate Britain, the highlights of Elton John and David Furnish’s photography collection at the V&A and both Michelangelo and Rembrandt at the British Museum.
Or you can take this chance to reconsider Yoko Ono’s artistic legacy at Tate Modern. Ono was a radical contemporary artist before she ever met John Lennon and this exhibition allows the chance to examine her own story beyond The Beatles.
Tate Modern is showing more than 200 works including installations, films, photography and music, including the once banned Film No. 4 (Bottoms) and Cut Piece, in which people were invited to cut off Ono’s clothing, a work which would later be an inspiration for and an influence on Marina Abramovic.
For details and tickets, visit tate.org.uk
Barbie: The Exhibition, Design Museum, from July 5
It can be a struggle to convince kids who would much rather spend their time in Hamleys to enter a museum. This year’s summer exhibition at the Design Museum in Kensington High Street might offer an opportunity to get around that problem. In the wake of last year’s movie, the museum will celebrate the 65th birthday of Barbie in partnership with Barbie’s makers, Mattel. And yes, Ken will have his own dedicated section.
PARIS
Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism, Musee d’Orsay, until July 14
You still have just over a month to catch this celebration of the 150th anniversary of the very first Impressionist exhibition in Paris. In 1874 an unlikely group of artistic rebels including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot and Paul Cezanne banded together to bring the shock of the new to the French capital. This exhibition returns to that moment in time. Perfect for anyone who wants to go to Paris but doesn’t want to hang around for the Olympics which kick off just under a fortnight after the exhibition closes.
BERLIN
Caspar David Friedrich - Infinite Landscapes, Alte Nationalgalerie, until August 4
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich whose landscape paintings are also maps of internal emotional states. His paintings of ruined churches and mist-swathed mountains are Gothic delights. The artist’s reputation was tainted because the Nazis were so fond of him and there are some who see his work as kitsch, but he has emerged as the most famous German artist and the nation is doing its best to celebrate his life and work on his notable birthday. Dresden will also host an exhibition of his work and there are year-long celebrations going on in his home town of Greifswald.
VENICE
Venice Biennale, Giardini, Arsenale, until November 24
Of course Venice itself is a work of art. When it comes to the most beautiful cities in the world it’s probably in the top one. But every other year the Biennale adds a layer of contemporary art to the city’s gilded historic beauty. The artist and film-maker John Akomfrah has been selected for the British Pavilion this year. (Scotland couldn’t afford to send anyone; another sorry tale of the current failures in funding when it comes to culture.) But half the fun of the Biennale is wandering around and discovering the work of artists you’ve never heard of from countries you’ve never visited.
And when you’ve had enough of the hurly-burly of the pavilions in the Arsenale head to Castello and take in San Zaccaria, one of the city’s most beautiful churches - it has a few - with its spectacular Bellini altarpiece.
If it’s floppy clocks you are after, this way. This anniversary exhibition brings together work from such artists as Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Man Ray and Giorgio de Chirico, all of whom reimagined reality in their paintings and sculptures. More than 130 works are on display in this exhibition which will then travel to Hamburg, Madrid and Philadelphia. But Brussels probably has the best frites so that might be something to take into account.
BERWICK-OPON-TWEED
Lowry and the Sea, Granary Gallery, until October 13
For those who prefer to stay closer to home, a jump across the border to Berwick-upon-Tweed offers a chance to enjoy this examination of LS Lowry’s love of all things maritime in one of his favourite places (the painter was a regular visitor to the town).
Including work borrowed from The Lowry in Salford, The Arts Council Collection and a number of private collections, this exhibition follows his obsession with the sea from childhood through to the stark, sombre “empty seascapes” he painted in his later years after the death of his mother.
MALAGA
Pablo Picasso: Structures of Invention, Museo Picasso, until March 21, 2027
In 1976 Jonathan Richman was confident enough to suggest in his song named after the artist that “Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole”. I’m not sure that’s the case anymore. Picasso is a test-case problematic artist thanks to his often misogynistic relationships with the women in his life. He’s the ultimate example of the artist as bullish male narcissist. The art - bold, visionary, radical - remains, however. This new exhibition in his handsome home city attempts to see the continuities in his work through all his different styles and periods.
GLASGOW
Discovering Degas, Glasgow, until September 30
Finally, if you’re a homebody, maybe these last two entries might be the exhibitions for you this summer. Why travel to the Musee d’Orsay when an exhibition by Edgar Degas is right on your doorstep at the Burrell? Like Picasso, from a 21st-century perspective Degas is another “art monster”. But he is also one of the most radical, thrilling artists, a master of colour and movement.
EDINBURGH
Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians, King’s Gallery, until September 22
Edinburgh Art Festival celebrates its 20th birthday this summer with some 55 exhibitions and events across the city between August 9-25, ranging from Chris Ofili at the Dovecot Studio to Laura Aldridge at Jupiter Artland and Vermeer at the National Gallery to Geoff Uglow at the Scottish Gallery. Meanwhile, at the now renamed King’s Gallery at Holyrood, this exhibition celebrates the fashion of our Georgian ancestors with a gather-up of costumes and paintings from the royal collection. Expect Gainsborough at his filmy, translucent best and Rowlandson undercutting the glamour.
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