Whether you’re sketching the snake-charmers of Marrakesh, craning your neck at
the Chrysler Building or poring over a Picasso in Madrid, 2008 is the year
to take in a little art on your travels. If you’re a dab hand, head to a
studio in Devon or Tuscany for some fine-tuning; if you prefer to look, tour
New York, St Petersburg or the Côte d’Azur.
Here are the best exhibitions, art-history tours and painting holidays for
masters young and old.
Exhibitions
PICASSO, Madrid
The Picasso Museum in Paris is being refurbished, and a large part of the
collection has been transferred to the Reina Sofia Museum, to help create
one of the most comprehensive retrospectives of the artist’s oeuvre ever
staged – 400 works, including the iconic Guernica, from the Reina Sofia’s
own collection. It runs until May 5; for details, visit www.museoreinasofia.es.
At the same time, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Fundacion Caja Madrid
have added to the city’s allure by hosting a joint show, Modigliani and His
Times – which brings together 130 paintings, drawings and sculptures by
Modigliani and his contemporaries, including Diego Rivera, Marc Chagall and
André Derain. It runs until May 18, with the works split between the two
locations; for details, visit www.museothyssen.org.
The grooviest hotel in town is the five-star Puerta America (00 34-91 744
5400, www.hoteles-silken.com;
doubles from £130, room-only), where every floor has been fashioned by a
different designer, but it’s a 15-minute Metro journey from the centre of
town. If that’s too far, and you’d prefer to amble to your art, check in at
the Hotel Urban (91 787 7770, www.derbyhotels.es;
doubles from £139, room-only), on Carrera San Jeronimo. Fly to Madrid with
EasyJet (www.easyjet.com), BMI Baby
(0871 224 0224, www.bmibaby.com) or
Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com).
KOKOSCHKA, EGGER-LIENZ, Vienna
For many, the chance to see Klimt’s Kiss (at the Belvedere) or Schiele’s
incendiary self-portrait Seated Male Nude (at the Leopold) up close is
reason enough to go to Vienna. This spring, however, you can enlarge your
understanding of their time by checking out the work of Oskar Kokoschka, the
third man of the city’s golden age of art. There will be 120 works by the
expressionist on show at the Belvedere until May 12 (www.belvedere.at),
and when you’ve got an eyeful of those, you can transfer to the Leopold to
acquaint yourself with one of his contemporaries, Albin Egger-Lienz,
courtesy of the largest-ever retrospective of his work (until May 29; www.leopoldmuseum.org).
Egger-Lienz is barely known in the UK, but anyone who enjoys
early-20th-century Austrian art will warm to him instantly. The themes are
stridently different from those of his contemporaries – in sharp contrast to
the likes of Klimt, Egger-Lienz concerns himself with the bare, plain lives
of the rural poor, in peace and war. But his treatment of the subject walks
the same fruitful line between realism and abstraction.
For art-loving weekenders, the best place to stay is close to the
Museumsquartier, a bustling development of museums and restaurants near the
city centre. The Rathaus Wein & Design (00 43 1 400 1122, www.hotel-rathaus-wien.at;
doubles from £111, room-only) does the job nicely. Tucked away on a quiet
street, and boasting elegant, understated design, it also has – a winner,
this – an impressive cellar dedicated to Austrian wine. Airlines flying to
Vienna include EasyJet (www.easyjet.com)
and Austrian Airlines (0870 124 2625, www.aua.com).
CEZANNE, GIACOMETTI, Copenhagen
The Louisiana, which is home to one of Europe’s leading collections of
contemporary art, is 50 years old this year – and, to celebrate, it’s
hosting a heavyweight show that brings together 170 works by Cézanne and
Giacometti (until June 29; www.louisiana.dk).
Subtitled Art is Hard Work, it will be both a retrospective of their output
and an examination of the parallels in their approach. It’s not an obvious
pairing – Giacometti was only five when Cézanne died – but it promises to be
a treat nonetheless.
And there’s more to Copenhagen’s art credentials than the Louisiana. The city
is host to several more enticing permanent collections – notably the Ny
Carlsberg Glyptotek (classical sculpture and the impressionists), the
Statens Museum (everything from Titian to Matisse), and the super-cool
Ordrupgaard, part of which is housed in a bold glass-sided blob designed by
the London-based architect Zaha Hadid.
To complete the experience, check in at one of the city’s design hotels:
either the Skt Petri (00 45-3345 9100,
www.hotelsktpetri.com; doubles from £162, room-only) or the Royal (3815
6500, www.royal.copenhagen.radissonsas.com;
doubles from £115, room-only), designed in its entirety by Arne Jacobsen.
Fly to Copenhagen with SAS (0871 521 2772, www.flysas.com),
Sterling (0870 787 8038, www.sterling.dk)
or British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com).
PALLADIO, Vicenza
This year is the 500th anniversary of Andrea Palladio, probably the most
influential architect of the Renaissance, and Vicenza – the town where he
made his name – is hosting a year-long celebration (www.palladio2008.info).
The centrepiece of the festivities is The Great Exhibition, September 20 to
January 6, 2009, which will bring together 300 works from 50 museums – not
just Palladio’s drawings and architectural models, but paintings and
sketches by Michelangelo, Le Corbusier and El Greco too.
Next year, the exhibition will transfer to the Royal Academy, so you could
always wait to see it in London – but what would be the point of that when
you can go to Italy, take in the show, then walk outside and look at some of
Palladio’s most famous buildings?
Verona is 33 miles from Vicenza. Fly there from Gatwick with BA (0870 850
9850, www.ba.com) or First Choice Airways
(0871 664 0144, www.firstchoice.co.uk).
Or fly to Brescia, 43 miles away, from Stansted with Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.
com). Carrentals.co.uk (0845 225 0845) has four days’ car hire, picking
up in Verona, from £76. The Hotel Campo Marzio (00 39 0444 545700, www.hotelcampomarzio.com),
near the historic centre of town, has doubles from £105, B&B.
KANDINSKY, Munich
The Lenbachhaus in Munich, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Guggenheim
Museum in New York have the largest collections of works by Wassily
Kandinsky. The three institutions have joined forces to create an extensive
retrospective, Absolute.Abstract, which is in Munich from October 25 to
February 22, 2009 (www.lenbachhaus.de),
before moving on to Paris and New York.
Included in the show will be several of his famous transitional landscapes
from 1908 and 1909, such as the Guggenheim’s Blue Mountain. This is one of
those paintings that makes no sense at all when seen in a book or on a
postcard – reproductions just can’t do justice to the potency of his
colours. Seeing it in the flesh will make your whole trip worthwhile.
But the fact is, even without Kandinsky, Munich is one of Europe’s art
capitals – and strangely underrated in the UK. Three museums, the Alte and
Neue Pinakotheks and the Pinakothek der Moderne, together provide a heady
dose of painting and sculpture. Everyone from Albrecht Dürer to Andy Warhol
is here.
Airlines flying to Munich include Lufthansa (0871 945 9747, www.lufthansa.co.uk),
BA (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com), Air Berlin
(0871 500 0737, www.airberlin.com)
and Germanwings (0870 252 1250, www.germanwings.com).
If you plan to make a weekend of it, a couple of nights at the Charles Hotel
(0800 988 4040, www.charleshotel.de;
doubles from £147, room-only), on the edge of the museum district, would be
the luxury option. The Hotel-Pension Am Siegestor (00 49 89 399550, www.siegestor.com;
doubles from £56, B&B), up by the university, is a good budget
alternative.
Painting holidays
FLOWERS, LIFE, LANDSCAPE, Dittisham, Devon
April 21-25
Beware the watercolour trap. Watercolours are cheap, highly portable and don’t
get all over the furniture, as oils do. But they’re also fiendishly
difficult to use. If you like the effects they produce but haven’t a clue
how to achieve them, you need to spend some time with Paul Riley at Coombe
Farm Studios (01803 722352, www.coombefarmstudios.com),
near the Dart estuary.
A master of the medium, Riley will teach you about its idiosyncrasies – down
to the subtle differences in hue produced by recent changes in paint-makers’
formulas. You’ll also learn a lot simply by watching the thoughtful and
controlled way he puts paint to paper.
Riley runs a wide range of courses each year, including trips to Venice and
Prague, but the five-day Flowers, Life, Landscape course, this spring, is
probably the best all-round introduction, making use of both his studio and
the surrounding countryside. It costs £475pp, including tuition and
full-board accommodation, but not travel.
DEVELOPING A PAINTING, Tuscany
July 11-24
It’s amazing what a difference a studio makes – somewhere to put out your work
for several days, giving you the time and space to let ideas develop. If you
don’t have one of your own, it’s well worth signing up for a course that
does – so you can at least enjoy the experience for a few days (and make a
resolution to rectify the situation back home).
The long-established Verocchio Arts Centre (020 8869 1035, www.verrocchio.co.uk),
in the hilltop village of Casole d’Elsa, is well equipped in this respect,
with two painting studios, as well as a sculpture studio and terrace. It
offers a range of two-week courses from May to October. One of the most
interesting is Developing a Painting, which focuses on working up your ideas
from sketches and photographs to finished images. It’s just the kind of
methodology that part-timers lack, and your work should benefit long after
the course is over. Prices start at £830pp, which covers tuition and
half-board accommodation, but not travel.
Florence is 43 miles away. Fly there from Gatwick with Meridiana (0845 355
5588, www.meridiana.it). Or fly to
Pisa, 56 miles away, with Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com),
BA (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) or EasyJet (www.easyjet.com).
C
ONTEMPORARY ART IN CORNWALL, St Ives
July 20-25
St Ives may not be as central to the English art scene as it was in the days
of Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, but there’s still a vibrant community
of artists down there, and, of course, a branch of the Tate. Add to that the
brilliant light of a Cornish summer and you’ve got a compelling destination
for a painting holiday.
St Ives School of Painting (01736 797180, www.stivesartschool.co.uk)
is the place to go – it has a year-round programme of short and long
courses, based in a spacious studio and ranging from portrait-painting to
collage. Anyone interested in the strong tradition of nonfigurative art in
the area will be tempted by the six-day Contemporary Workshop, which seeks
to introduce residents to new ideas and skills, and lure them to the wild
frontiers of abstraction.
The course costs £205 for tuition and materials. You’ll need to find
accommodation, though, which won’t be easy at the start of the summer
holidays – so book it as soon as possible. Try the stylish Boskerris Hotel
(01736 795295, www.boskerrishotel.co.uk;
doubles from £125, B&B).
SKETCHBOOKING IN MONTECONERO, Le Marche, Italy
Sept 15-22, Sept 26-Oct 3
Anyone with arty aspirations will have tried keeping an illustrated travel
journal at least once in their lives. Most, however, won’t have produced the
vibrant volume of their dreams. If you fall into that category, Ace Study
Tours (www.acestudytours.co.uk)
has the perfect trip for you. Sketchbooking in Monteconero, based on a
dramatic stretch of the Adriatic coast, south of Ancona, is designed to
develop the skills required to produce a really beautiful and coherent
record of your travels – with pencil, ink and colourwash. Tessa Henderson, a
former student of the architect Hugh Casson, is in charge, and the price is
£1,050pp, half-board, including flights from London, transfers and tuition.
MARRAKESH AND ESSAOUIRA, Morocco
Oct 19-26
In need of visual refreshment? The new Morocco-based painting holidays offered
by Andalucian Adventures (01453 834137, www.andalucian-adventures.co.uk)
should do the trick.
This is a twin-centre trip, taking in the very different cities of Marrakesh
and coastal Essaouira, and will give you the chance to tackle souks,
seascapes and snake-charmers, all in the same week. It is a hotel-based
holiday, so there won’t be the opportunity to work up ideas in a studio –
but the sketches you make each day should provide you with months of
material once you get home.
The trip this October costs £1,079pp, including transfers, tuition and
full-board accommodation, but not flights. Airlines serving Marrakesh
include Altas Blue (www.atlas-blue.com),
Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com),
EasyJet (www.easyjet.com), BA (0870 850
9850, www.ba.com) and Royal Air Maroc (www.royalairmaroc.com).
Andalucian Adventures also runs painting holidays in Spain, Greece, France,
Italy and the UK, one of which, in the Subbetica Natural Park, Andalusia, is
offered without single supplements.
Art history tours
GALLERIES OF ST PETERSBURG, Russia
Six departures in May, June, Aug, Sept, Oct and Dec
If you’ve enjoyed From Russia, the dazzling show of paintings at the Royal
Academy, why not take your interest a step further? Kirker (020 7593 2288, www.kirkerholidays.com)
is running six architecture and art-history tours to St Petersburg as part
of its cultural and musical holidays programme – with an optional four-night
Moscow extension. And you’re in for a treat, with the superb collection of
paintings, sculpture and objets d’art at the Hermitage the
centrepiece of the tour. The art historian Keith Miller is the guide, and
the week-long trip starts at £1,557pp, including flights from London,
admission, half-board accommodation, transfers and visas.
VAN EYCK TO VAN DYCK, Belgium
July 3-6
Who says there are no famous Belgians? What about Bruegel, Rogier van der
Weyden and the Van Eycks? This tour brings to life the explosion of
creativity set off by the early Renaissance in Flanders. Ghent, Bruges,
Antwerp and Brussels feature on the trip, organised by the cultural-holiday
specialist Martin Randall Travel (020 8742 3355, www.martinrandall.com),
which offers tours taking in subjects as wide-ranging as the modernist
architect Le Corbusier and the Byzantine court of Ravenna.
The Belgian tour costs £820pp, including Eurostar travel from St Pancras,
admission and transfers. Clare Ford-Wille, who lectures at the V&A, the
National Gallery and the University of London, is the suitably knowledgeable
guide.
ART DECO, New York
May 12-18
One of the heavyweights of the art-history scene, Ace Study Tours (01223
835055, www.acestudytours.co.uk)
offers a range of tours covering locations from Manchester to Kyoto. Its
trips book up quickly – sometimes a year in advance – but there are still
places available on its six-day tour of the Big Apple, with the
architectural historian David Brady.
Taking in the Chrysler Building, the interior of the Bank of New York, at One
Wall Street, and Radio City Music Hall, the trip costs £1,590pp, including
flights from London, B&B accommodation, admission, transfers and some
meals.
THE COTE D’AZUR FROM MATISSE TO PICASSO, France
Oct 13-18
You can’t just turn up on the Côte d’Azur hoping to get a sense of what
inspired Matisse, Picasso, Bonnard and many more to paint such vibrant and
colourful pictures. These days, it’s too overcrowded and overbuilt to offer
much insight.
No, you need a guide and an itinerary to unlock its secrets – and the
art-history specialist Inscape Tours (020 7839 3988, www.inscapetours.co.uk)
is happy to oblige with this six-day trip. Guided by Jo Rhymer, who lectures
at the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, it’s based in
Nice and offers day trips to Antibes (Monet, Picasso), Biot (Léger) and
Cimiez (Matisse).
One week costs £1,648pp, including flights from London, B&B
accommodation, admission, two dinners and transfers.
Interesting -- other options for other years
Amy Routman, new york, USA