From One Extreme to the Other

Nat Finkelstein was one of the most respected photojournalists of modern times. Renowned for his iconic and intimate documentation of Andy Warhol’s infamous Factory, and later for his political activism including an allegiance with The Black Panthers that forced him to live abroad for 15 years, Finkelstein remained at the heart of the cultural zeitgeist up until his death aged 76, 2nd October 2009. This retrospective at London’s Idea Generation Gallery from January 20 to February 14, 2010, brings together Finkelstein’s diverse portfolio of work achieved across five decades.
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The path to impressionism

Seventy five masterpieces from Cologne’s Wallraf Richartz Museum & Fondation Corboud, and sixty superb works from the Albertina and the Batliner Collection as well as loans from private collections and international museums round out the portfolio of works on display at the exhibition Impressionism. Painting Light you can see in Vienna until February 14, 2010. The exhibition at the Jeanne and Donald Kahn Galleries, Albertina retells the history of impressionism using characteristic works from Courbet, Caillebotte, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Pissarro, Signac and van Gogh, giving equal prominence to art history and technology.
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Love and vampires at Viennese exhibition

Love, death, vampires and lots of darkness star in an art exhibition in Vienna that explores the unsettling images that appear in paintings by artists from Francisco de Goya to expressionist Edvard Munch. The Edvard Munch and the Uncanny main autumn exhibition at the Leopold Museum until January 18, 2010, contains works ranging from the late 18th century (Piranesi, Goya’s Caprichos) up to the early 20th century.
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Major Tsarouchis retrospective in Athens

A major retrospective exhibition showcasing works by one of Greece’s greatest painters is on show at the Piraeus Street annex of the Benaki Museum in Athens until March 13, 2010. This is the first retrospective of Yannis Tsarouchis’ works in Athens, showcasing 680 representative painted works from all the periods of the his oeuvre, as well as a large number of set design models that belong to museums and private collections in Greece and overseas. The exhibition Yannis Tsarouchis 1910-1989 is organized on the occasion of the centenary of the Tsarouchis’ birth.
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Mirό of Majorca in Thessaloniki

The biggest ever exhibition of Joan Mirό works in Greece can be visited in the city of Thessaloniki, at the Teloglion Foundation of Arts until February 5, 2010. The Mirό of Majorca exhibition is a collaboration with the Foundation Pilar i Joan Mirό of Majorca and includes a significant number of Mirό’s more than 400 works and documents of all themes, like painting, sculptures, etchings, drawings, sketches for sculpts or public art, for sobreteixisms, for ballet, for music, as well as material for King Ubu of Jarry, which was of special importance to Mirό.
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Degas bronzes on show in Athens

Seventy-four bronze sculptures by Edgar Degas presented together for the first time in an exhibition that will make visitors travel back in time is an event that should not be missed while in Athens this season. The complete sculptures of Edgar Degas will be running until April 25, 2010 at Athens’ Herakleidon Museum. All works in the show are on loan by the M.T. Abraham Center for the Visual Arts, and they include Degas’ most important one The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen.
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Neither Appearance nor Illusion

Sentences written in French using neon tubing are suspended along the walls of the medieval Louvre. The influential American artist Joseph Kosuth, a major figure of the contemporary international art scene, temporarily lays claim to the excavated ancient Louvre, offering visitors a dense and luminous work. You can visit his exhibition titled ‘Neither Appearance nor Illusion’ in the Louvre Museum’s Sully Wing until June 21, 2010.
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Enamels of the World, 1700-2000

The inaugural presentation of a remarkable new facet of the Khalili Collections, perhaps best known for the unparalleled collections of Islamic and Japanese art is an event that should not be missed in St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum until March 14, 2010. The exhibition features some 320 pieces selected from the 1,200 works in the enamel collection and coincides with the publication of a major volume on the subject by Haydn Williams, based on this collection.
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‘I Land’ in Cyprus

Opening on December 9 at Diatopos Gallery, I Land, the third solo exhibition of Greek Cypriot artist Melita Couta, is presenting the cartography of an improbable land. The artist is using several media, among them a series of drawings, ink on paper, in which tenuous and innumerable lines intermingle skillfully, spread their plait in various shades, and bring to our mind the memory of Atopos, a non-existing place. You can visit the exhibition up until January 15, 2010.
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First retrospective in Scandinavia for Lee Lozano

The first retrospective exhibition in Scandinavia of Lee Lozano (1930-1999), the American artist whose original and challenging work is still largely unknown in Europe, takes place at the Moderna Museet Stockholm from February 13 to April 25, 2010. This is a unique opportunity to see some sixty paintings and hundreds of works on paper and text-based works created between 1960 and1972 by the quixotic, confounding rebel whose decade-long New York career seemed always to involve pushing one limit or another.
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Tutankhamun: a superstar in Budapest

A sensational discovery in 1922 turned the unknown pharaoh Tutankhamun into a superstar. In 1922, the archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the burial chambers of the ancient Egyptian king with their vast treasures - an event that caused a worldwide sensation. Eighty-seven years later, a spectacular exhibition makes it possible for everyone to play the role of discoverers and experience Tutankhamun, his tomb and his treasures first hand. The traveling exhibition is visiting Hungary for the first time and you can visit it at Budapest's VAM Design Center until April 25, 2010.
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Cézanne, Picasso, Mondrian: A new perspective

Cézanne is the ‘father of modern art’. Ironically, the painter who frequently found himself turned down for the Paris salons is now regarded as one of the most important artists of his day. Picasso and Mondrian followed the lead he set and the three of them were responsible for what is perhaps the most decisive development in all art history: the inception of abstract art. These three revolutionary artists are now the subject of a major international exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag until January 24, 2010.
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Bullfights, Myth, Eros: The Picasso story

A selection of approximately ninety etchings, aquatints and illustrations created by the Spanish contemporary master Pablo Picasso throughout his whole artistic life, from 1904 to 1972, offering a chronological and thematic cross-section of the his graphics opus, can be seen in a ground-breaking exhibition at the City Museum of Ljubljana from January 21 to April 4, 2010. All works come from the famed collections of Galerie Fetzer in Germany, which houses the work of many grand masters of European art.
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Antoni Clavé life’s work in Ljubljana

An overview of 44 works, such as collages, cinema posters, theatre scene paintings and canvases, created by Catalan artist Antoni Clavé can be seen in a grand exhibition at Ljubljana’s Jakopic Gallery from January 15 until February 28, 2010. The works on view come from private collections and were comprised especially for this show, which has been organized in collaboration with the SEACEX cultural association of Spain and the Spanish Embassy in Slovenia.
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Antoni Clavé life’s work in Ljubljana

An overview of 44 works, such as collages, cinema posters, theatre scene paintings and canvases, created by Catalan artist Antoni Clavé can be seen in a grand exhibition at Ljubljana’s Jakopic Gallery from January 15 until February 28, 2010. The works on view come from private collections and were comprised especially for this show, which has been organized in collaboration with the SEACEX cultural association of Spain and the Spanish Embassy in Slovenia.
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Arts combined in Pärnu

Something important has been taking place every winter in Pärnu, Estonia, and deserves our attention. The Printmaking In Festival combined with the Pärnu Days of Contemporary Music make an enclave of three weeks of explosive creativity and experimentation for artists in various areas of contemporary art: performance, sculpture, painting, audiovisual art, photography, digital media and music, from 9 to 31 of January, 2010.
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Darwin in Luxembourg

Celebrating Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and commemorating the 150th anniversary of the publication of his masterpiece The Origin of Species, many cultural institutions in Luxembourg have been organizing since the beginning of 2009 various events focusing on the theory of Evolution. Darwin in Luxembourg is the top event of this kind in the country and has been running since the beginning of the year at the natur muse or National Museum of Natural History. It features the great English naturalist’s theory on Evolution by Natural Selection, one of the most important achievements in science. The exhibition will remain open to the public until April 11, 2010.
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Building Memories in Vilnius

Sixty years of Europe's most problematic and contested history are explored with a focus on architecture, monuments, community and geo-political perspectives in Poland, former-DDR and Israel with reference to its foundation. This is what the Building Memory exhibition -on show at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) in Vilnius until February 14, 2010- is doing through the works of four of Europe's most renowned artists: Mirosław Bałka from Poland, Yael Bartana from Israel, Deimantas Narkevičius from Lithuania and Marcel Odenbach from Germany.
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Paintings of a happy man

Helsinki’s Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art opens its first exhibition of the year focusing on a very important contemporary Norwegian artist. Berlin-based Olav Christopher Jenssen (b. 1954) presents his latest colouristically exuberant paintings and organic sculptures on the fifth floor of the museum, under the title Panorama, from January 22 to March 28, 2010. Panorama features a new kind of Jenssen. Just like all of the painter’s series, this one too is a step in a new direction.
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Annie Leibovitz’s life in pictures

The exhibition Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 1990–2005 on view at the Kunst Haus Wien until January 31, 2010, encompasses a total of over 150 photographs, many of them large-format works, as well as a number of private photos. Numerous sequences of photographs focus on her parents with images of family reunions and trips to the sea. And again and again we find ourselves face to face with the celebrities whom Annie Leibovitz portrays with such startling immediacy: Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Demi Moore, Brad Pitt, William Burroughs and many others. Leibovitz’ works in this exhibition emanate an emotional power that eclipses everything the photographer has done before.
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The Arts of Islam

Following the successful exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi, some 500 selected pieces from the fabulous Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art are on view at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris until March 14, 2010. The works on view in the exhibition The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D Khalili Collection, most of which have not been exhibited in Europe before, span thirteen centuries of art.
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Matisse to Malevich

Outstanding works by Matisse, Picasso, Van Dongen, De Vlaminck, Derain and many other contemporaries of theirs will be seen in a magnificent display from 6 March to 17 September 2010 at the Hermitage Amsterdam in the exhibition Matisse to Malevich. Pioneers of modern art from the Hermitage. For this exhibition about 75 paintings have been selected from the Hermitage St. Petersburg, which has one of the world’s finest collections of French painting of the early twentieth century.
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A new season for opera and ballet in Vilnius

Forty-two great productions and more than 200 performances are included in this year’s season at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, which is often considered the pride of the country. In its repertoire, it demonstrates quality, excellent technique, dedication and high-class professionalism of performances, which is the result of several centuries of continuous hard work and aspirations to achieve such standards. From September 25, 2009 to May 23, 2010 do not miss the opportunity to attend one of its excellent performances.
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1989: End of History or Beginning of Future?

The “annus mirabilis” 1989 marked a paradigm shift. The breath of history wafted through the collective consciousness and a cheerful, yet incredulous “Wow!” was on everybody’s lips. 1989 stands for the opening of the Iron Curtain and the fall of the Berlin Wall. That year is the starting-point and key year of the exhibition 1989. End of History or Beginning of the Future? on view at the Kunsthalle in Vienna until February 7, 2010. The title emphasizes that history continues to be written –contrary to the famous thesis of political scientist Francis Fukuyama.
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Himalayan magic captures Bratislava

Good news for all those who missed the Shangri-la exhibition at the Slovak National Museum from March to July. Up until the end of January 2010, Bratislavans and visitors to the city will have the opportunity to see the sequel show titled Magical Himalayas, the legend continues. This time, the exhibition, which was inaugurated by His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama himself on September 10, is hosted at the very heart of the Slovak capital, at the Stará tržnica Old Market Hall in the SNP Square.
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Giovanni Giacometti: Color in the Light

Swiss painter Giovanni Giacometti produced paintings that emanate a powerful coloristic force. Around a hundred of these works of outstanding quality were carefully selected for a retrospective exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Bern revealing his brilliant artistic stature. The exhibition is mounted in collaboration with the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur and you can see it until February 21, 2010.
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Masterpieces from Paris in the land down under

From December 2009 through to April 2010, the Australian public won’t have to travel to Paris to see masterpieces by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Maurice Denis and Edouard Vuillard. They can visit them in Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia, which presents Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and beyond, an extraordinary exhibition in association with the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
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November ‘89: when history changed

Twenty years after the dramatic events that led Central and Eastern Europe to freedom and democracy, Slovakia remembers through an exhibition that highlights the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia and the birth of the nation. The November ’89 exhibition at the Bratislava Castle’s West Terrace runs through the end of the year and is a must-see for those who witnessed those times, participated in the events and want to remember, as well as for the young ones who want to learn from history.
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Pharos’ winter concerts

Having established a world-wide reputation for its commitment to excellence and for promoting classical music in Cyprus, the Pharos Arts Foundation in Nicosia is the island’s main center for quality music today. With more than 150 world class concerts over the last ten years and numerous outstanding musicians performing in the Concert Series and the annual Chamber Music Festival, the 2009/2010 winter program announced comes with no surprises. From December to the end of February 2010 expect only the best: Four unique concerts that should not be missed!
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Victorian fashion cult in Vilnius

An authentic collection of women's and men's clothing of the Victorian times (1837-1901) is on display, for the first time ever in Lithuania, at Vilnius' Radvila Palace until January 31, 2010. The display comprises about 50 garments and numerous accessories from England, France, Italy, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is representative of different styles, beginning with Romanticism up to Art Nouveau. It is part of the Paris-based vast collection of Russian-born stage and costume designer Alexandre Vassiliev.
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The Slovak Philharmonic’s new season

With 75 concerts remaining in the 2009/2010 season from December to May, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its sixty years of life that have made it one of the country’s most respected institutions. While reconstruction of the Reduta building in Bratislava is still in progress, the Slovak Philharmonic is temporarily housed in the historic building of the Slovak National Theatre, which hosts most of the concerts. Other concerts take place at the Slovak National Gallery and the Dvorana Concert Hall, as well as at St. Martin's Cathedral and other churches around the capital city.
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