Summer 2018:  Expect a Hot Season for Special Exhibitions

By: Natalie Blackbourne

Summer can be the best time to explore museums – when the weather is hot, even the kids will agree that the air conditioning can be a welcome reprieve.  The other terrific thing about Summer is it’s the best season for special exhibitions.  And for outstanding exhibits this summer, it seems like everyone’s getting in on the act—from Vilius, Lithuania, to Ferrara, Italy, there is something for everyone:

For those art-seekers who love learning about little-known artists, check out the work of Gabriele Münter at the Louisiana Museum in Denmark. Until August 19^th, 2018 you can view over one hundred and thirty of the German impressionist’s art pieces, including some on rare loans from museums in Europe and the USA. Throughout Münter’s sixty-year artistic career, she created over two thousand paintings, several thousand drawings, watercolors, stained glass, prints, and over twelve hundred photographs. Today, she is slowly being accepted as one of the major contributors to impressionist artwork.

The exhibit, “Gurlitt: Status Report” at Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland promises to delight with invaluable artworks by Picasso, Munch, and Matisse. The artwork was discovered six years ago in the home of the son of a German art dealer, and many pieces were considered controversial or “degenerate art” by the Nazis, which were confiscated or stolen under the Hitler regime. Don’t wait too long – this exhibit is only on display until July 15, 2018.

For the romantics, take a look at “Rubens. Painter of Sketches,” in the Prado Museum in Madrid. This collection has pieces from all over the world – the Louvre, the Hermitage, the National Gallery, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Until August 5^th, 2018, you can see over ninety-three prints, drawings, and paintings by the influential artist. The gallery not only houses his innovative oil paintings, but also research from curators on Rubens’ unique preparatory process and finishes that is pending publication. If you don’t get a chance to make it to Madrid by August, the exhibit will be moving to the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in September.

At the Louvre in Paris, France “Delacroix (1798-1863)” debuts until July 23, 2018. In this collaborative effort with the Metropolitan Museum of New York, one hundred and eighty paintings can be seen from his forty-year artistic career. The gallery highlights his departure from neoclassicism, large public murals and easel painting, and landscapes.  Beware:  this exhibit is widely considered to be this summer’s blockbuster, so plan accordingly!

And speaking of blockbusters, in Edinburgh, the National Galleries of Scotland is staging, “Rembrandt:  Britain’s Discovery of the Master,” from July 7 to October 14, 2018.  This separately-ticketed exhibition focuses on Britain’s near-mania with Rembrandt’s works, even as he was first becoming known throughout Europe in the 1600’s.  Accumulating works from Britain’s collections, the show will include at least three works by Rembrandt, and additional works by British artists he influenced.

In Vilnius, Lithuania, the Vartai Gallery [internal link] highlights three famous female artists: Louise Bourgeois, Maria Lassnig, and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva until July 28^th, 2018. These artists are known for their sculptures, but this exhibit focuses more on their drawings. The curator specifically wanted to demonstrate the artists’ feelings and ideas, which lends a more emotive atmosphere to the exhibit. Their artwork in this gallery reflects their artistic ambition, visions, and personally intimate experiences.

Until August 2018 the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art will display the works of Japanese artist Koji Kamoji.  Here you can find the minimalist’s paintings, drawings, and sculptures. The artist’s sense of poetry and ascetic approach to form lends itself nicely to a trip to Warsaw, Poland.

If you find yourself in Ferrara, Italy, check out the exhibit “Jews, an Italian story: The first thousand years” at the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah . The museum is located in a former prison complex that has been renovated into an educational and cultural memorial. The museum is currently under construction to eventually include five giant transparent buildings in the shape of books – to represent and evoke the imagery of the five books of the Torah. The exhibit has over two hundred objects, encompassing twenty manuscripts, seven incunabula, eighteen medieval documents, forty-nine Roman and medieval epigraphs, and over one hundred and twenty rings, seals, coins, oil-lamps, and amulets. Enjoy this exhibit throughout the 2018 summer, until September 16^th, 2018.

Picasso isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this exhibit on “Love, Fame, and Tragedy” at the Tate Modern in London, England, focuses on the most pivotal year of Picasso’s life – 1932. From March 3 until September 9^th, 2018, you can view over a hundred paintings, sculptures, drawings, and family photographs from his “year of wonders.” You can even see a rare glimpse of his lover and muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter, in works that haven’t been seen since they were created over a hundred years ago.

For those who would enjoy a more modern flair, “Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960-Today” at the Vitra Design Museum runs all summer until September 9^th, 2018.  The privately-owned German museum is focusing on furniture, lighting, and graphics, with examples from Italian clubs, the Palladium in New York, and recent architecture from London.  You’ll love the building:  it’s designed by Frank Gehry.  The museum is in Weil am Rhein, which while located in Germany, is actually a suburb of Basel, Switzerland.

Heading to Helsinki, Finland?  Award-winning British artist Grayson Perry’s classical ceramic pots and large tapestries will be on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. Until September 2^nd, 2018 you can see the artwork inspired by social commentary, modern events, masculine ideals, and even the artist’s personal life. The subjects covered include gender, identity, social status, sexuality, and religion – so be prepared for a range of subjects that are controversial, sexual, and provocative.

For something a little more visually engaging, check out the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mere Eglise, France. The Airborne Museum is the largest museum in Europe dedicated to the American Paratroopers from the Normandy invasion of the Second World War. This year they welcome a Histopad tablet, which provides an interactive perspective – witness the German occupation, watch the landing of gliders, and manipulate weapons and equipment to understand how they operate. Until September 2018, you can see the exhibition “Hidden Agents: Secret Service in the Liberation of France 1940-1945.” This gallery highlights artifacts, documents, and photos of the clandestine missions of agents during World War II.

Until October 29, 2018, you can walk through the Leopold Museum in Vienna to see Moriz Nähr highlighted, who is considered one of the most important innovators of photography in the exhibit “Vienna around 1900.” Nähr and Gustav Klimt were very close as friends and colleagues, which directly influenced both of their artwork styles. This exhibit features a collection of landscapes, architecture, portrait, and street photography.

On display for the first time at the Hungarian National Gallery, the exhibit on Frida Kahlo promises to be a groundbreaking display. With pieces on loan from the Museo Dolores Olmedo in Mexico City, this exhibit highlights over thirty paintings, portraits, drawings, and photographs. Kahlo’s folk-style surrealism is on colorful display until November 4^th, 2018.

Fall Preview:  “Pin-Ups: Toulouse-Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity” will be the first exhibition held at the National Galleries of Scotland devoted to the art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. This exhibit will focus on Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographic posters, portfolio prints, and illustrations. Toulouse-Lautrec’s career coincided with western printmaking and the development of the poster as a means of mass-marketing. Lithography and poster-making were central to his creative process from his first experiments in the medium in 1891 until his death in 1901. View this flamboyant exhibit until January 2019.