Best European Exhibitions to Visit In The Upcoming Months

The holiday season is in full swing, and the insane heat is forcing us to stay close to the air conditioners. However, is there anything that can really stop art lovers from seeking aesthetic pleasure and deep sensual experience? 

Today we have made a list of 5 European exhibitions worth paying attention to.

Herzog & de Meuron

The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries  Royal Academy of Arts, London (July 14 – October 15, 2023)

The exhibition is dedicated to the work of architectural geniuses Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Visitors are invited to look behind the scenes of one of the most respected architecture firms in the world, Herzog & de Meuron.

For more than 40 years, the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron has been “challenging our ideas of what architecture can be.” They have redefined the nature of buildings, from homes to hospitals, and designed and realized projects such as the Tate Modern, Laban Dance Center, Elbphilharmonie and M+, or the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, which have changed the face of entire cities.

The exhibition features 400 objects of Herzog & de Meuron’s design process, which allow you to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the architects working on their masterpieces.

“Explore their open archival shelves, sit on their latest designer furniture, walk around life-size architectural models, and use augmented reality to see the new children’s hospital in Zurich,” the curators write.

Visitors will be among the first to experience the space and atmosphere of the latest Herzog & de Meuron designs and watch the recently filmed documentary by Beka & Lemoine about the Swiss creators’ innovative REHAB project.

The idea of the exhibition was implemented by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in close collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron and is a rare opportunity to see what is usually hidden behind the scenes.

From 1914 till Ukraine

Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart (March 11 – July 23, 2023)

You still have time to see the project “From 1914 till Ukraine” at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany, an exhibition of works by Otto Dix and Ukrainian artists about the war in Europe.

At the invitation of the museum’s curator Anne Vieth, the exhibition concept was developed by Kateryna Semenyuk and Oksana Dovgopolova from the Ukrainian platform Past/Future/Art, which has been implementing artistic, research, and commemorative projects since 2019.

The Stuttgart Museum of Art is known for its collection of works by Otto Dix, a twentieth-century German painter and graphic artist who worked with the themes of the First and Second World Wars.

The project “From 1914 till Ukraine” compares the works of Otto Dix with the works of contemporary Ukrainian artists. While Dix depicts the experience of two world wars in his paintings, Ukrainian artists respond to the war started by Russia in Ukraine in 2014 and the escalation of the situation after the full-scale invasion in 2022.

The century-old European experience of war comes into view.

In contrast to the destructive nature of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in violation of international law, the exhibition focuses on the values, fate and future of Europe.

Marcel Duchamp and the Lure of the Copy

Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice (from October 14, 2023)

This is the first exhibition from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection devoted exclusively to Duchamp, one of the most brilliant and influential innovative artists of the first half of the twentieth century and a longtime friend and advisor to the American patron. The project is curated by Paul B. Franklin, a Paris-based art historian and an internationally acclaimed expert on the life and work of Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968).

Duchamp was a bright and challenging experimenter and art theorist. Throughout his career, he questioned the traditional hierarchy between the original and the copy, worked in the ready-made genre and was not afraid to replicate his art, thus initiating a discussion about what constitutes a work of art.

The exhibition presents about sixty works of art dating from 1911 to 1968 including iconic pieces from the Peggy Guggenheim’s permanent collection, such as Nude (sketch) and Sad Young Man in a Train (1911), as well as from other Italian and American institutions, including the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

The centerpiece of the Venice exhibition is Box in a Valise (1935-1941), a portable museum of 69 miniature copies and reproductions of Duchamp’s works that Peggy Guggenheim acquired from the artist in 1941. The exhibition also features several lesser-known works of art from private collections, including the artist’s estate. Moreover, almost half of the pieces on display come from the distinguished Venetian collection of Attilio Codognato, who first became interested in Duchamp’s work in the early 1970s.

Maria Prymachenko

Saatchi Gallery, London (July 17 – August 31, 2023)

The Saatchi Gallery in London is hosting an exhibition of works by artist Maria Prymachenko. This is the first time that the Ukrainian artist’s works are exhibited in the UK.

Saatchi Gallery presents paintings that were kept by the artist’s family. In particular, the autobiographical paintings of Maria Prymachenko, depicting details of the artist’s life and everyday life, as well as fantastic animals, birds and plants.

On February 25, 2022, on the second day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an enemy shell hit the Maria Prymachenko Museum causing fire to the wooden building. Firefighters were unable to arrive because of the street fighting. It was a miracle that they managed to save only 14 of the artist’s 25 paintings.

“A life-affirming symbol of hope brought to Saatchi Gallery after the Ukrainian museum which previously held the works was destroyed,” the gallery said in a statement.

Saatchi Gallery is one of the most influential contemporary art galleries in London, established in 1985 and since then it has provided space for exhibitions of both well-known and emerging artists.

The exhibition is organized by the Embassy of Ukraine to the UK in cooperation with the Maria Prymachenko Family Foundation.

Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto

Victoria and Albert Museum, London (September 16 – February 25, 2024)

The first UK exhibition dedicated to the work of French couturière, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. The project describes the birth of the CHANEL Fashion House and the evolution of this iconic style, which continues to influence the modern image of women.

“Gabrielle Chanel. A Fashion Manifesto” is an in-depth study of Coco Chanel’s sixty-year career, curated by the Palais Galliera in Paris. This exhibition is a real must visit for fans of fashion history.

It will show the path of Gabrielle Chanel from the opening of her first Parisian boutique in 1910 to the presentation of her last Chanel collection in 1971. The central message of the exhibition is the thesis that in her work Chanel was primarily guided by the concept of freedom, not by fashion traditions, as it was before.

A striking example of Coco Chanel’s “freedom” is the Chanel 2.55 handbag. This is the first shoulder bag filled with practical details: a middle compartment that fits perfectly to the size of a lipstick; a back pocket for storing cash; and an inner lining to keep love letters. Created in the last century, the bag still remains a fashion trendsetter all over the world.

Source: The Gaze