Picky Arters.
We love art, and it’s always a part of what we seek out when we’re on the road. But let’s face it: Much as we love them, too many hours in one of the world’s goliaths—the Louvre, the British Museum, the Metropolitan—can give us a bad case of museumitis.
That’s when we turn to a single-artist museum.
We have a few favorites around Europe that we’d like to share.
To trace Pablo Picasso’s development from classical art to modern, head for the Picasso Museum, which occupies a series of medieval mansions in the old Ribera neighborhood of Barcelona. The collection highlights the artist’s formative years—ceramic creations, early impressionist-influenced paintings, etchings, and more. Picasso’s Blue Period (1901 to 1904) is extensively covered, too. The museum was the brainchild of Picasso’s lifelong friend Jaume Sabartés, who established what would become the Picasso Museum in 1963 with his own personal collection of 574 pieces as well as those donated by Picasso and friends. By the way, Picasso was a native of Málaga, not Barcelona, but he so loved his adopted city that this is where he and Sabartés decided the museum should be. Alas.
Are you a fan of Vincent van Gogh? If so, put Amsterdam on your bucket list. That’s where you’ll find the Van Gogh Museum, the largest collection of his work under one roof. When you enter, grab a free copy of the artist’s bio from the Information Desk. Keep it with you as you wander. The core of the collection originally belonged to Theo, Vincent’s beloved brother. Fantastic landscapes, self-portraits, and more are complemented by the artist’s letters, his personal collection of Japanese prints, and pieces by artists he influenced and those who had an influence on him. When you’re done, stop at a café in the neighborhood and cultivate a taste for genever, the local gin, straight up. Vincent would approve.
The Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi made a name for himself in 1938, when he unveiled a massive piece at Rockefeller Center commissioned by the Associated Press. A prolific artist and tireless experimenter, he not only sculpted but also designed gardens, furniture, lighting, ceramics, architecture, and theatrical sets. In 1969, he opened a studio in the village of Mare, on Japan’s Shikoku Island, where he worked on large granite and basalt pieces. There he met a young stonecutter with whom he would collaborate for 20 years. Noguchi asked that his studio posthumously be turned into a place that would inspire artists and scholars. That’s exactly what the Noguchi Museum in Japan does today. Here, 150 of his sculptures, many standing unfinished, preserve the working atmosphere of Noguchi’s Japanese studio. Come see for yourself.
Back in Barcelona, we suggest a visit to the Fondació Joan Miró. Come get your fill of Miró’s playful, primary-colored visual hijinks—sculptures, ceramics, textiles, graphics, paintings, and drawings. Miró donated most of what you’ll see; the rest came from his family and close friends. But Miró had the foundation agree that his art would be exhibited side-by-side with contemporary artists’ work, and so it is. Our favorite Barcelona guide reveals what’s behind Miró’s powerful symbolism.
You’ll have to go beyond the Bern (Switzerland) city limits to reach the Zentrum Paul Klee, but believe us when we say it’s worth the short trip. A relative newcomer to the single-artist museum arena (it opened in 2005), it illuminates the life of Klee—artist, poet, musician, teacher. The 4,000-piece collection includes Klee’s paintings, watercolors, and drawings, but serious Klee afficionados can also delve into archives and biographical material from his most creative periods. If you appreciate modern architecture, you’ll love the undulating building designed by Renzo Piano, with plenty of light, airy space inside to appreciate Klee’s work from all angles. Delightful.
Auguste Rodin was a meticulous record-keeper. He used the nascent art of photography to document his own artwork, and throughout his life, he maintained a vast “studio collection”--sketches, studies, variations, and models of his work. The Rodin Museum in Paris exhibits a moving collection of sculpture, sketches, and engravings as well as his studio collection and remarkable photographs (many by such notables as Steichen) that illustrate his life and his work. But one really gets to know Rodin the man by perusing his personal collection of Egyptian and Greek antiquities and paintings he loved by Renoir, van Gogh, Monet, and others. And as you wander the museum, remember that this building was once home not only to Rodin, but also to other artists, Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, and Isadora Duncan among them. Oh, if the walls could talk…