Visiting art exhibitions is a wonderful way to see the world from a different perspective and step outside of the everyday routines of life. You can often also buy beautiful prints of the original artworks for reasonable prices, and have them professionally framed to make a centrepiece for your home or workplace.
Here are a few places worth visiting if you are staycationing around the UK this summer.
Paris 1924: Sport, Art and the Body Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
The world is gearing up for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, which takes place exactly 100 years on from the last Paris Olympics in 1924.
This exhibition in Cambridge focuses on the first Paris Olympics in 1924, and the response of some of the world’s best artists to the celebration of the human body in action. The era happily coincided with the careers of great artists such as Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, and Natalia Goncharova.
It is a diverse exhibition that will explore the changing cultural attitudes towards issues such as gender, race, body image, class and national identity. It will feature a variety of mediums including photography, panning, illustration, graphic design, fashion, film, and more.
The 1920s were an exciting time as modernism fused with the Classical heritage of Europe, and society was starting to break away from the rigid structures and attitudes of the past. For example, women were at last allowed to be represented as physically strong and capable, and wear unrestrictive clothing to allow them to perform at their best.
However, the exhibition also questions the idealisation of both the male and female body as art and cinema began to become more commercialised. The blurring of the boundaries between art, celebrity, sport and fashion that we are so accustomed to today was in its infancy, and it is fascinating to see the point where these two worlds began to collide.
There were also rapid developments in technology that have parallels with today’s Games, which will no doubt be available to view or listen to in hundreds of different formats. In 1924, technology was similarly surging as worldwide broadcasting was still a novelty, and sport could reach global audiences for the first time.
The exhibition is curated by a team of experts from Cambridge University, and has opened to critical acclaim. Certainly worth a visit if you are in Cambridge between now and 3 November this year.
Beatriz Milhazes: Maresias; Tate St Ives, Cornwall
The Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes creates mesmerising large scale abstract collages characterised by bright colours and innovative layering techniques. She was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1960, where she still lives and works today. She is inspired by the landscapes and natural world around her coastal city, and the salty sea air.
Milhazes says that this makes St Ives in Cornwall an exciting place for her new exhibition, as the ocean has long been her muse, and she appreciates the new perspective from the opposite side of the Atlantic.
She says: ‘my context has been surrounded by forests, mountains and coastal experiences; the development of a ‘tropical’ way of thinking. It was very special to exhibit my work at Turner Contemporary and now at Tate St Ives – to smell the sea salt breeze of the same ocean as Rio de Janeiro. Same water, different cultures, but in the end it is all about life.’
If you are enjoying a holiday in the picturesque Cornish town of St Ives, the exhibition is well worth a visit, and is open until 29 September.
Collaborative art at Tate Modern, London
If you are looking for a way to introduce art to your kids this summer, the Flooded Garden at the Tate Modern is an excellent place to start. The artist Oscar Murillo has transformed the Turbine Hall into a huge painting garden, where visitors can pick up a brush and make their own mark on the canvas.
The gallery explained: “The flooded garden is inspired by Claude Monet’s paintings of his flower garden in Giverny, France, and builds upon Oscar’s own series of Surge works.”
“For inspiration, works from this series will be on display in the South Tank, featuring expressive oil paint flowing across their surfaces, like water. Like the artist, we’ll be using deep hues of blue, bright yellows and pinks to create this collaborative piece of art.”