Will Coldwell 

10 of the best new art exhibitions in Europe for autumn 2017

It’s blockbuster art show season across Europe, with old masters, surrealists and 60s radicals in the spotlight at the continent’s top galleries
  
  

O Sentimental Machine by William Kentridge at the Thick Time – Installations and Stagings, in Salzburg.
O Sentimental Machine by William Kentridge at the Thick Time – Installations and Stagings, in Salzburg. Photograph: Courtesy William Kentridge, Marian Goodman Gallery, Goodman Gallery and Lia Rumma Gallery

William Kentridge: Thick Time – Installations and Stagings, Salzburg

Get immersed in the imaginative work of South African artist William Kentridge at Salzburg’s Museum der Moderne. Featuring his multimedia, cinematic installations, with playful animation and tricksy, theatrical filming evocative of early cinema, Kentridge’s work tackles themes ranging from revolution and colonialism to loneliness and comic tragedy. If you miss it, a further exhibition of his work is showing at the Reina Sofia in Madrid, from 1 November until next spring.
Until 5 November 2017, Adults €12, concessions €8, museumdermoderne.at

Dutch Masters from the Hermitage: Treasures of the Tsars, Amsterdam

Showcasing some of the finest examples of work from the Dutch golden age, this grand exhibition will feature 63 paintings (including six by Rembrandt), the vast majority of them from the State Hermitage museum in St Petersburg. It will be the first time many of the paintings – acquired during the 17th and 18th centuries by rulers such as Tsar Peter I and Catherine the Great – have been back to the Netherlands.
7 October-27 May 2018, adult €25, concs €10, under-11s free, hermitage.nl

Being Modern: MoMA in Paris

In another major exhibition that will see work shipped in from overseas, Fondation Louis Vuitton will showcase 200 works charting the remarkable collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Work by artists including Pablo Picasso, Gustav Klimt, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp and Jasper Johns will be on show from October, along with rarely seen material from the MoMA archives, showing the behind-the-scenes history of the museum. It will also be the first time some works –among them Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans – will be shown in France.
11 October-5 March 2018, adult €16, concs €10, under-18s €5, fondationlouisvuitton.fr

The Cinquecento in Florence: from Michelangelo and Pontormo to Giambologna

Featuring Michelangelo, Bronzino and Girogio Vasari, this major exhibition explores “an era of outstanding cultural and intellectual talent”, with more than 70 works from 16th-century Florence. Held in the grand Palazzo Strozzi, the show will run simultaneously with an exhibition of modern work held in the undercroft, bringing together the work of radical artists based in the city during the 1960s and 70s.
21 September-21 January 2018, adult €13, concs €10.50, palazzostrozzi.org

Chagall, the breakthrough years, Basel

Dedicated to Marc Chagall’s early work, this exhibition at the Kunstmuseum features works made from 1911-19, when the Russian-French artist was exploring his memories and life in both Paris and rural Russia. They also depict Jewish life, at a time when Europe was becoming immersed in the first world war.
Until 21 January 2018, adult around £20, 13-19 years £6, student £8, kunstmuseumbasel.ch

Joan Miró: Materiality and Metamorphosis, Lisbon

This expansive exhibition of the colourful work of Catalan artist Joan Miró charts nearly his whole career, with 85 works ranging from drawing to tapestry. The high-profile show of one of the world’s greatest surrealist artists has just opened at Lisbon’s Palácio Nacional da Ajuda after proving a hit in Porto last winter, where more than 240,000 people visited.
• Until 8 January 2018, €10, palacioajuda.gov.pt

Anni Albers: Touching Vision, Bilbao

Challenging preconceptions of art made from woven fabric, German artist Anni Albers, who studied at the Bauhaus art school, was one of the most important textile artists of the 20th century. This exhibition at Guggenheim Bilbao focuses on her work when she was living in North Carolina (from 1925 to the late 1970s) and combining her artistic practice with educational work.
• September 30-14 January 2018, adults €10, concessions €6, children free, guggenheim-bilbao.eus

Magritte, Broodthaers and Contemporary Art, Brussels

In the city where René Magritte lived and died, this exhibition of the Belgian surrealist looks at the ongoing influence he had on contemporary art. Focusing on the relationship with his friend and fellow artist Marcel Broodthaers, as well as artists ranging from George Condo, Gavin Turk and David Altmejd, the exhibition explores the way Magritte set into motion the concept of the “trashing of painting by painting itself”, an idea still wilfully prevalent in art today.
13 October-18 February 2018, adults €14.50, senior €12.50, concessions €8, fine-arts-museum.be

Picasso: Between Cubism and Classicism: 1915-1925, Rome

Featuring 100 of his masterpieces, this exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale focuses on how the artist’s experiences in Italy influenced him, showcasing works of different styles including collage, realism and still life. The exhibition is being run in collaboration with four major museums: Paris’s Pompidou Centre, the Guggenheim, the Picasso Museum in Barcelona and the Met in New York. The Scuderie was the stables of the Palazzo del Quirinale (Quirinal Palace), now one the official residences of the Italian president.
22 September-21 January 2018, adult €15 including audio guide, under 19s free, scuderiequirinale.it

The World Museum, Vienna

The former Museum of Ethnology is reopening on 25 October as the Weltmuseum Wien (World Museum Vienna) after a three-year reconstruction. Artefacts – including 200,000 objects, 25,000 photographs, 136,000 printed works and over 300km of film – showing the history, culture, art and everyday life of predominantly non-European peoples will be on permanent display in 14 galleries. Among the cultural treasures is a feathered headdress thought to have belonged to a Mexican priest more than 500 years ago. There will also be five temporary exhibitions by contemporary artists on the ground and mezzanine floors.
The museum will be free to enter until 1am on 25 October and from 1pm-9pm on 26 October; thereafter €12 adult, children and adolescents free. weltmuseumwien.at

 

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