This summer will be an exciting year for art lovers traveling to major European cities, with thoughtful exhibits showcasing both new work and past masters’ works.
Featured here are four art exhibits to include in itineraries to London, Vienna, Paris and Venice.
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London; until Aug. 2, 2015
This Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V&A in London is as blockbuster as an exhibition can get. The original version of the display ran at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art organized by the Costume Institute and became one of the museum's top 10 most visited exhibitions of 2011. But now, McQueen is coming home to London.
The exhibition is a retrospective spanning the entirety of the late fashion designer’s career; his collaborations with artists and other designers such as Philip Treacy; and his influence on the creative arts as a whole. This is sure to please lovers of the avant-garde, designer fashion and interesting aesthetics.
www.vam.ac.uk
Tracey Emin|Egon Schiele: Where I Want to Go
Leopold Museum in Vienna, Austria; until Sept. 14, 2015
A leading figure of the “Young British Artists” movement of the 1990s, Tracey Emin is taking part in a creative dialogue with Egon Schiele, a modernist painter of the early 20th century. This exhibition is sure to be a fascinating one, considering Emin’s decision to incorporate the late Schiele’s work into the exhibition and the nature of the two artists’ approach to representation.
Though the artists may be out of place, both through space and time, they both aim to reveal what truly makes us human by representing the unconscious self the uncomfortable and what may be considered “the un-beauty.” It will be interesting to see how Emin’s work plays in conjunction with Schiele’s masterpieces, the crowning jewels of Leopold Museum and Viennese modernism.
www.leopoldmuseum.org
Velazquez
Grand Palais in Paris; until July 13, 2015
Velazquez is one of the most important painters of the 17th century. His works are timeless, naturalistic and effervescent, and yet there are barely 100 of them. As such, this is one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of the great master’s work that has ever been assembled, and certainly the largest outside Spain.
In the exhibit, 119 of Velazquez’s artworks are arranged, detailing his entire life, including his beginnings in Seville to Madrid and his term as the official painter to the King of Spain at the height of Spanish colonial domination in Madrid.
Throughout the space there will be an underlying thread showcasing his expertise as a portraitist. However, the exhibition also highlights a lesser-known aspect of his work: landscapes. This presentation is tailor-made to please any art history buffs.
www.grandpalais.fr
56th International Art Exhibition: All the World’s Futures
Giardini, Arsenale and other sites in Venice, Italy; until Nov. 22, 2015
La Biennale in Venice began in 1895 as a research organization investigating contemporary art and cultural trends. Its international art exhibition is now in its 56th year, titled “All the World’s Futures,” and is spread out between Giardini, a garden with 29 national pavilions and a central pavilion, and Arsenale, a complex of former shipyards and armories, as well as across various sites throughout the city.
All the World’s Futures will feature 136 artists from 90 nations, including 89 new artists. The event is impressively large, taking up a half-year with 44 collateral events by national and international institutions also presenting exhibitions across Venice.
This spectacle of international art is sure to present some exciting contemporary trends, as well as present an in-depth study into the global arts community.
www.labiennale.org
