Category: Exhibitions

With around 140 paintings, drawings and etchings by Rembrandt and his pupils, the exhibition Impulse Rembrandt offers insight into the artist’s creative work and one of the largest workshop operations of 17th century Dutch painting. It explores Rembrandt’s fascinating ability to pass on idiosyncrasies of his painting style and at the same time promote the artistic individuality of his pupils. Between 1625 and 1665, Rembrandt attracted more young artistic talent from Holland and Europe than did any other painter in Amsterdam.

The exhibition is based on the museum’s own collection, which includes works by Rembrandt’s pupils and contemporaries such as Jan Lievens, Ferdinand Bol, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Aert de Gelder and others, but no paintings by Rembrandt himself [the picture above is attributed to Rembrandt's workshop, by the way]. Only one confirmed drawing along with etchings by the artist are in the MdbK’s Collection of Prints and Drawings. It is thus all the more delightful that, thanks to generous loans from museums in Amsterdam, London, Stockholm, Vienna and Paris as well as German collections, around 60 paintings, drawings and etchings by Rembrandt can be presented.

The exhibition unfolds across time, from the 15th to the 19th century, with a foray into the 20th century. Each stage holds surprises: admire a sketch on canvas by Jacques Jordaens, a model by Alexander Calder, a watercolor by Anne Bonnet, or an oil painting by Delacroix. Preparatory drawings by Rik Wouters stand alongside Fernand Khnopff's decorative projects for the Stoclet House, while the high-reliefs and statuettes by Constantin Meunier and the plein-air sketches by Gustave Courbet or Ferdinand De Braekeleer will captivate you.

Through a thematic scenography, discover rare works, sometimes never exhibited before , alongside the famous bustling sketches of Peter Paul Rubens.

This unique exhibition, built around the exceptional collections of Fine Arts of Belgium, also marks the result of a vast restoration campaign carried out over nearly two years by the Museum's teams. Don't miss this opportunity to delve into the secret world of artistic creation and rediscover masterpieces in a new light.

JMW Turner and changing visions of landscape is a major new exhibition exploring artists' approaches to landscape from the 17th century to the present day. It commences the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the birth of JMW Turner, one of the most influential artists in the history of western art.

The exhibition explores the evolution of landscape art, centring on Turner's influence, whose landscapes conveyed a full range of artistic, historical and emotional meanings. Featuring seven oil paintings and nine works on paper by Turner, it compares his visionary approach with those who influenced him, like Claude Lorrain, Ruisdael and Canaletto, and those he inspired, from John Sell Cotman to Govinda Sah. Renowned twentieth-century artists like Paul Nash and contemporary figures such as Ibrahim Mahama, Emma Stibbon, and Henna Nadeem demonstrate the ongoing relevance of landscape in art.

With a comprehensive exhibition spanning several epochs, the Hamburger Kunsthalle will shed light on the diverse facets of the theme of illusion in art, from the Old Masters to today. Ever since antiquity, artists everywhere have been making use of the “trompe-l’oeil” technique, and it was particularly popular in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. The desire for illusionistic renderings then waned during the Romantic period, but this type of art never completely disappeared from the repertoire and it continues to fascinate artists to this day. The exhibition will show how illusion means far more than merely deceiving the eye. It is manifested in the (illusionistic) self-love of Narcissus as well as in spatial illusions in architecture, in the play of concealing and revealing via the pictorial motifs of the curtain and the mask, in the meaning of the open or closed window to the world, and in depictions of visions and dreams. Based on some 150 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, installations and video works, the show traces the many different forms taken by hyperrealism, reality, fiction, dream, transformation and deception. Among the exhibits are major works from the Hamburger Kunsthalle as well as loans from national and international collections.

The Legacy of Vesuvius: Bourbon Discoveries on the Bay of Naples will reveal the slippage between the ancient and modern during the reigns of these royal tastemakers. Through an eighteenth-century lens, Vesuvius’s volatility read as romantic; in its shadows the Bourbons financed excavations at the Roman sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the fruits of which both fueled and supplied demand for all things antique. Royal collections incorporated many of these artifacts, which were sometimes creatively manipulated to better suit eighteenth-century taste. New objects inspired by recently unearthed ancient art were also produced, contributing to the widespread popularity of neoclassicism. The Bay of Naples, itself a protagonist in this story, became a vital hub for artistic production, scientific exploration, and tourism during the eighteenth century.

1789, the year of the Storming of the Bastille and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, is often considered to be the glorious year of the Revolution and even to embody the French Revolution in its entirety. It is the year during which Paris established itself as the capital of the Enlightenment and Revolutions.

But compared to the clarity of “89”, “93” appears much darker and thornier. As it was just coming to an end, this long political year spanning from the spring of 1793 to the summer of 1794 had already found a name: the “Terror”. Fabricated for political reasons, the word points to the authoritarian transition that the republican regime had undergone. And yet, the years 1793-1794 are also the years that some, confident in their ability to reinvent history, called “Year II”: a year defined by its breaking with the past and its revitalising of revolutionary utopias.

The exhibition is a collection of more than 250 works of all kinds: paintings, sculptures, objects of decorative arts, historical and memorial objects, wallpaper, posters, pieces of furniture… And all translate collective histories and incredible individual fates.

These varied objects reveal a context imbued with collective fears and state violence, but also with extraordinary daily activities, feasts, and celebrations.

Senior curator for Bath Preservation Trust Dr Amy Frost said: "The portraits are remarkable for capturing two generations of a manufacturing family." [...]

"When I opened the email saying 'Do you want four Gainsborough portraits?' my first reaction was to ask: 'Is this real?' especially as it then said 'as a gift'.

"We're a small museum, and a gift like this can be revolutionary in terms of the quality of what we display," said Ms Frost.

Less known than his peers, Bruno Liljefors was nevertheless an important figure on the Scandinavian arts scene in the late-nineteenth century. By showing his work for the first time to the French public, the Petit Palais seeks to highlight his pictorial skill and Liljefors’ original contribution to the construction of the imaginative repertoire of Swedish nature.

This unique exhibition features an ensemble of some one hundred pieces, including paintings, drawings, and photographs from the collections of Swedish museums like the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm—partner of the exhibition—the Thiel Gallery, and Gothenburg Museum, as well as numerous private collections.

To commemorate this milestone, the Albany Institute has developed this exhibition centered around a partnership with The Leiden Collection, one of the preeminent private collections of seventeenth-century Dutch paintings in the United States.

In addition to twenty paintings from The Leiden Collection, Delights of the Senses will include several prints from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, along with objects from First Church, Albany, Friends of Historic Kingston, Historic Huguenot Street, Historic Hudson Valley, the New York State Museum, and from the rich holdings of the Albany Institute.

The exhibition will present paintings and objects that examine seventeenth-century Dutch culture through the five senses. On view will be paintings of everyday life by Dutch artists such as Gerrit Dou (1613–1675), Jan Steen (1626–1679), and Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667) alongside objects similar to those in the paintings. Displayed together, these paintings and objects will invite viewers to imagine daily moments in an earlier time—whether it be an encounter with lively music, soft fur, a fragrant bouquet, or a hoppy glass of beer—as they were perceived not just through the eyes, but all the senses.

The Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, Switzerland, is one of the most remarkable art museums of its kind, with a collection that ranges from superlative old master paintings and drawings to an exceptional group of Impressionist art.  

The works were assembled in the first half of the 20th century by Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965). Reinhart later opened the collection to the public in his beautiful villa on the outskirts of Zurich, called ‘Am Römerholz’, which, in 1958, became a museum of the Swiss confederation.   

For the first time in its history, a rich array of highlights from the Reinhart collection will be displayed outside Switzerland, making this exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery a unique opportunity to see some of its masterpieces.  

The exhibition will feature major paintings by artists of the generation preceding the Impressionists, such as Goya, Géricault and Courbet, but will focus especially on Reinhart’s extraordinary collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works.

Join us this summer as we celebrate the 300th birthday of artist, George Stubbs, by returning his paintings to Wentworth Woodhouse and displaying them here publicly in South Yorkshire for the first time!

George Stubbs has long been revered as a ground-breaking and curious artist, possessing an exceptional ability to present animals with a human-like quality. In 1762, Stubbs spent some time at Wentworth Woodhouse, working on paintings commissioned by the Second Marquess of Rockingham.

In our largest exhibition to-date, Beneath the Surface features Stubbs’ work alongside pieces by contemporary artists, including Ugo Rondinone, Mark Wallinger and Tracey Emin, who have drawn on similar themes. These artists also look beneath the surface, exploring animal and human experiences through their innovative and thought-provoking work.