Manolo Blahnik,The Wallace Collection, London

On my big museum tour of London this summer there was another unmissable exhibition I had to check out, the one from the genius shoe designer Manolo Blahnik. Set in the lavish interiors of Hertford House, home to the Wallace Collection, the shoes perfectly blend in with the opulence on display.

As you walk into the museum you are greeted by the lovely staff and the beautiful main staircase. You immediately feel like you’ve traveled back in time. It’s such a beautiful house.

Because the shoes blend in so well, you might miss some of them, unless you get one of the free maps to guide you. Most shoes are exhibited under glass domes making them even more appealing, like untouchable candy.

What I loved the most is how the designs were places next to the paintings that correspond with the shoes in colour or referenced era. It has a lot to do with Blahnik actually being inspired by the Wallace Collection for many years.

The designer even worked with curators to select pieces from his archive for the exhibition, which must have been a very long process since the designer’s career spans almost five decades!

Even if you are not a big shoe fanatic, the craftsmanship and detail on every single shoe make them worthy pieces of art. There is also the fact that the house is home to armoury and porcelain collections among others, and some exceptional paintings from Rubens, Rembrandt and Velasquez to name just a few.

The Wallace Collection is free of charge and the Blahnik exhibition runs until October 27, so plenty of time to still visit. Do not miss the chance!

For more photos from the Wallace Collection and the Blahnik exhibition please check out the Instagram page 🙂

Emil Nolde, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin

One of the most visited exhibitions at Hamburger Bahnhof this year is Emil Nolde. A German Legend. The Artist during the Nazi Regime. It was actually difficult getting into the exhibition during the weekend because the queue to buy the tickets is usually all the way outside the building, in the garden. Luckily, having the annual museum pass I was able to sneak in even during peak hours of the weekend, even though the museum clerk said that I’m entering at my own risk, but that he could not stop me.

The man was right, it was very busy and thus it took much more time to see the exhibition and especially to read all the texts on the walls. I assume it will only be busier in the last week of it being open, which is actually next week already.

Emil Nolde was an Expressionist and one of the most famous creators of what Nazis considered to be Degenerate Art.

This is the first time such an extensive exhibition of Nolde’s work is being shown posing the question how National Socialism influenced his art. As irony would have it, he was also a supporter of the regime that wanted to destroy a lot of his work.

Walls of the exhibition space are filled with Nolde’s quotes and also the quotes from the prominent members of the regime, and it is left to the viewer to think about what was said, rather than curating a specific thought from the beginning.

One thing that exhibitions usually don’t have is a recreation of artist’s home and painting studio, and in this exhibition you can see some of the artworks situated in Nolde’s home-turned-museum in Seebüll.

It is a valuable history lesson and a highly recommendable exhibition for that reason alone. It is open until September 15.

For more photos from the exhibition, please check out the Instagram page 🙂

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London

One of my favourite things to do if I find myself in London during summer is visiting the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. It is one of the few places where I feel so joyous and peaceful, even though it’s full of people and commotion.

This year’s exhibition had over 1500 artworks on display, setting a new record as the largest Summer Exhibition ever.

It was a vivacious display of colour in so many different forms, from photography, sculpture, video installations, to painting, drawing, print, architectural models etc.

On the evening I was visiting there were even live music performers engaging with some of the pieces, doing different performances in different galleries of the exhibition.

In the biggest gallery space there was even an orchestra performing classical and Latin (Brazilian) music.

Although this year’s exhibition has already closed, I highly recommend it for next summer. Wandering around with a drink in your hand choosing what you’d buy if you had any money is always fun! There are even affordable prints if you wish to actually purchase art.

For more photos of some of the artworks in this year’s exhibition please check out the Instagram page 🙂

Luchita Hurtado, Sackler Gallery, London

Another cool little gallery inside the magnificent Hyde Park is the Sackler Gallery, part of Serpentine Galleries. This summer they have an exhibition I Live I Die I will Be Reborn by Luchita Hurtado.

It is her first solo exhibition in a public institution and it follows 8 decades of her versatile work, from abstraction to human forms.
What is immediately noticeable in her paintings are the elements of her Latin heritage.

The gallery space is divided into 8 chapters that show you the beginnings, the activism and ecology, language, etc.

It is a very colourful world Hurtado has created, in many ways giving you as a viewer an opportunity to put yourself in her shoes while looking at the ‘Sky Skin‘ paintings or ‘I Am’ works.

My favourite were the abstract works regarding the alphabet and language. What a beautiful idea.

The exhibition is open until October 20 and is free of charge.

For more pictures from the exhibition, please go to the Instagram page 🙂