Europe’s Biggest Exhibitions for Spring 2022
Renaissance masterpieces,
minimalist murals and mirrored rooms
From Yayoi Kusama’s show Infinity Mirror Rooms in London to an exhibition celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of the German artist Anna Dorothea Therbusch, browse five of Europe’s most compelling exhibitions promised for 2022.
St Petersburg: Helmut Newton
Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art | Until 17 April 2022
Erarta Museum’s seductive new Helmut Newton show will guide visitors through the German photographer’s extraordinary career. Featuring some 70 photographs taken between 1973 and 1981, it includes portraits of artists like Andy Warhol and David Hockney as well as trailblazing images of powerful, dominating women. Look out for his provocative diptych titled ‘They Are Coming!’ from 1981, which shows four confident women marching towards the camera, and ‘Rue Aubriot’, which depicts a model wearing a stylish Yves Saint Laurent’s tuxedo.
📍 15 minutes by car from Hotel Astoria
Berlin: Anna Dorothea Therbusch’s A Berlin Woman Artist of the Age of Enlightenment
Gemäldegalerie | Until 10 April 2022
A Berlin Woman Artist of the Age of Enlightenment at Gemäldegalerie celebrates the 300th anniversary of the birth of the German artist Anna Dorothea Therbusch. The daughter of the Prussian court painter Georg Lisiewski is considered one of the most important female artists of the 18th century. Gemäldegalerie will bring together almost her entire collection of paintings, including her large-format self-portrait from around 1782. One of the few women to be admitted into the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris, Therbusch became a renowned portrait painter and a key chronicler of the Age of Enlightenment.
📍 10 minutes by car from Hotel de Rome
Rome: Sebastião Salgado’s Amazônia
MAXXI Museum | Until 25 April 2022
Get ready to be immersed into an Amazon rainforest experience through more than 200 large-format photographs created by renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Premiering in Italy, this exhibition at MAXXI — which is the country’s first national museum of contemporary art and is located in Rome’s Flaminio neighbourhood — will also feature a magical soundscape created by the composer Jean-Michel Jarre, based on sounds like birdsongs or the rustling of trees.
📍 10 minutes by car from Hotel de Russie
Brussels: Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawings, Works on Paper, Structures (1968-2002)
Jewish Museum of Belgium | Until Sunday 1 May 2022
Wall Drawings, Works on Paper, Structures (1968-2002) is a rare chance to delve into Sol LeWitt’s works from the 1960s to the 2000s. The show explores the American artist’s Jewish heritage and his work on the Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek synagogue in Connecticut, USA, as well as his links with Belgium. In addition to murals, works on paper, gouache paintings and sculptures, one highlight will be ‘Wall Drawing #138’, from his "Arcs, Circles and Grids" series, which he made at the now closed MTL Gallery in Brussels. The work played a prominent role in the introduction of conceptual art in Belgium.
📍 3 minutes by car from Hotel Amigo
London: Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms
Tate Modern
18 May – 12 June 2022
Tate Modern | 18 May – 12 June 2022
Featuring two mirror rooms, Yayoi Kusama’s show Infinity Mirror Rooms will be a disquieting tour de force. The exhibition includes one of the Japanese artist’s largest installations, ‘Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life,’ a room covered with mirrored tiles, which she made for her 2012 retrospective at Tate Modern. A walkway guides you over a pool of water which, along with the mirrors, reflect hundreds of colourful flashing LED lights that dangle from the ceiling. You then enter another mirrored room, ‘Chandelier of Grief,’ which is filled with rotating chandeliers.
📍 20 minutes by car from Brown’s Hotel
Join us at Rocco Forte Hotels and make the most of these inspiring exhibitions, all on your doorstep.
Top image credit:
© YAYOI KUSAMA
Courtesy Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro
You may also like
The Italian Influence: How the Renaissance Shaped London’s Scene
The Italian Renaissance didn’t just transform Italy, it cast a spell over London too. Even Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled over England and Ireland during this great period of growth, embraced the fascination, calling herself demi Italienne, or “half Italian”. Today, in certain pockets of the capital, the artistic, intellectual, and architectural influence of Renaissance Italy can still be felt.
Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael: The Men Behind the Art
Inspired by the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c.1504, dive deeper into the lives of these masters and explore their most iconic works in Florence, Rome and Milan.
With Rocco Forte Hotels in the heart of each city, we’ll guide you on a truly immersive journey through the Renaissance.
A remedy for winter: Discover Palermo’s hidden warmth
There’s something wholly restorative about a Sicilian winter, two words not often paired together. A slower pace of life takes hold, as cool mornings lead into soft, golden afternoons, summer’s haze giving way to fresh breezes and crystal-clear skies. Once a winter secret, now shared as Villa Igiea remains open throughout the season.