England

Bar at the Folies Bergeres by Manet

Best of the Courtauld Gallery in London: A Treasure Trove for the Artsy Traveler

Artsy Sightseeing, Destinations, England, Get Inspired carolcram 3 Comments on Best of the Courtauld Gallery in London: A Treasure Trove for the Artsy Traveler

Last updated on October 10th, 2024 at 05:41 pm

I recently visited the Courtauld Gallery within hours of landing at Heathrow after flying to London from Vancouver. After three years away from Europe, I was itching to see great art, and the Courtauld Gallery turned out to be the perfect place to ease my way back into artsy traveling.

It’s small, it’s centrally located, and its collection is exquisite.

The highlights of the Courtauld Gallery are the truly impressive Impressionist collection and the medieval collection.

The Courtauld Gallery is part of the renowned Courtauld Institute of Art. This research-led higher education institution is the University of London’s largest community of art historians, conservators and curators. The gallery recently reopened after being closed for three years. The new and improved version is little short of spectacular.

Like the vast majority of visitors, I headed first to the top floor to view the Impressionist collection and the special exhibition of paintings by Edvard Munch (see my review of this exhibition). The room containing the Impressionist collection attracts the most visitors and can get a bit crowded.

I walked into the large room containing a delicious collection of Impressionists and immediately had to sit down to prevent myself from falling down and embarrassing myself. What I really wanted to do is laugh out loud and twirl myself past masterpiece after masterpiece, giddy with the beauty surrounding me.

When, finally, I collected myself, I began pacing slowly and reverently past gorgeous painting after gorgeous painting by all the biggies—Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Renoir, and on and on.

Here are just a few of the highlights of the Impressionist collection.

Tall Trees at the Jas de Bouffan by Paul Cézanne

Image of the painting entitled "all Trees at the Jas de Bouffan" showing a row of trees in Provence by Paul Cezanne included in the Impressionist collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
“Tall Trees at the Jas de Bouffan” by Paul Cezanne

Cézanne painted many views of the countryside surrounding Jas de Bouffan, a rural estate outside Aix-en-Provence owned by Cézanne’s father. Having visited the area, I can attest that Cézanne captures the shimmering quality of the light and the particularly vivid shades of green unique to Provence. My favorite Cézannes are his paintings of the Provence landscapes and this one is a keeper for sure!

Young Woman Powdering Herself by Georges Seurat

Painting called "Young Woman Powdering Herself" by Goerges Seurat showing a woman wearing a red corset and holding a powder puff. The style is pointillist and the piece is included in the Impressionist collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
“Young Woman Powdering Herself” by Georges Seurat

I’ve long been a fan of Georges Seurat who created the “pointillist” style of painting. He followed newly formulated optical theories by placing colors from opposite sides of the color wheel–orange and blue; pink and green–next to each other to create contrast. Seurat died at age 31 but he left behind some stunning works, this one being his only major portrait.

Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear by Vincent van Gogh

"Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear" by Vincent van Gogh" included in the Impressionist collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
“Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear” by Vincent van Gogh

I couldn’t believe the Courtauld had this piece! It’s one of my favorite van Goghs. I love how he contrasts the various colors–blue hat, green coat, orange face–and also includes the image of one of the Japanese prints he collected. Van Gogh was heavily influenced by Japanese printmaking. He painted this piece in 1889, a week after leaving hospital following the famous incident when he cut off a portion of his left ear after a heated argument with Paul Gauguin. Even injured, van Gogh was determined to keep painting.

The Haystacks by Paul Gauguin

The Haystacks by Paul Gauguin included in the Impressionist collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
The Haystacks by Paul Gauguin

And speaking of Gauguin, I was thrilled to see this piece which he painted while he was living in Brittany. Gregg Simpson (husband and painter) is currently working on the Pont Aven Suite, a series inspired by Gauguin’s Brittany paintings, so Gauguin has been a regular topic of a conversation in our house. I love how Gauguin simplifies and flattens forms and colors. This piece has so much movement–the women raking hay above and the man driving the oxen below.

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Edouard Manet

The Bar at the Folies Bergeres by Edoaurd Manet included in the Impressionist collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergères by Edouard Manet

Fabulous as all the pieces in the Impressionist collection are, the best of all is my old friend A Bar at the Folies-Bergères by Manet. What a painting!

The young barmaid (the model’s name was Suzon) looks out at the viewer, her expression both bored and vulnerable at the same time. According to the descriptive text next to the piece, “Manet created a complex and absorbing compostion that is considered one of the iconic paintings of modern life.” That is certainly true!

Suzon is every person in the world working in a dead-end job they hate and yet obliged to pretend they enjoy for the sake of the customers.

After thoroughly exploring the top floor, I began my descent to the other two floors to explore the rest of the Courtauld Gallery’s collection. I was in for a treat as it turned out.

One of my favorite eras for painting is the middle ages, particularly the first half of the 14th century when artists were not worried about perspective and realism. I love the use of gold, the pastel shades of the egg tempera paint the artists used, and the lego-like way in which they depicted medieval buildings.

Well, the Courtauld delivered! To my delight, it houses a lovely medieval collection that includes such notables as Lorenzetti and Duccio—two hometown boys from Siena, my fave Italian city (and one of the settings for The Towers of Tuscany).

As is often the case in art museums, the medieval rooms were pretty much empty so I drifted from painting to painting and admired to my heart’s content.

A highlight is a series of small panels painted by Fra Angelico (1417-1455) that depicts six female saints. Each face is incredibly expressive and compelling. I wonder who Fra Angelico used as models.

Medieval gold panel that includes a portrait of a female saint dressed in the black habit of a nun created by Fra Angelico included in the Medieval collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
Medieval gold panel that includes a portrait of a female saint dressed in a blue robe trimmed with gold and created by Fra Angelico included in the Medieval collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
Medieval gold panel that includes a portrait of a female saint dressed in a red robe and with long hair, and created by Fra Angelico included in the Medieval collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
Medieval gold panel that includes a portrait of a female saint dressed in a pink cloak and created by Fra Angelico included in the Medieval collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
Medieval gold panel that includes a portrait of a female saint wearing a red gown trimmed with gold and a green cape, and created by Fra Angelico included in the Medieval collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
Medieval gold panel that includes a portrait of a female saint wearing a simple blue gown and created by Fra Angelico included in the Medieval collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.

After thoroughly exploring and enjoying the large collection of medieval art, I toured the rest of the collection. There’s a fair number of works from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including works by Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Reynolds, and Rubens.

A big selling point of the Courtauld is its compact size and that each piece in the colleciton is stellar. I don’t think I’ve ever visited an art museum where the quality of all the pieces is so uniformly high.

After my visit, I got chatting with the young man in the gift shop. He enthusiastically agreed that the Courtauld’s collection is first-rate and also kindly listened to me rattle on about how I first visited the Courtauld with my mom back in 1970 (likely a good forty years befor he was born!)

Here are two more of my favorites at the Courtauld Gallery.

Adam and Eve by Cranach the Elder included in the collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
“Adam and Eve” by Cranach the Elder
Landscape with the Flight into Egypt painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and ncluded in the collection at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
“Landscape with the Flight Into Egypt” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The Courtauld Gallery is open Monday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00. Book your ticket in advance on the website to avoid line-ups and also to make sure you get in! Check the website also for special exhibitions. The Munch exhibition I saw was definitely worth the extra price.

London Tours & Tickets

Here are some options for touring London and buying tickets for other interesting museums and attractions.

Powered by GetYourGuide

London Walking Tours

GuruWalk lists pay-what-you-please walking tours that connect tourists with tour guides all around the world. Check out their tours of London!

Conclusion

As my first visit to a world-class art museum in three years, the Courtauld was the perfect choice. It gently eased me back into artsy traveling, doling out artsy hits like small bites of gourmet chocolates—each one more flavorful than the last and yet all equally fabulous.

Have you visited the Courtauld? Which piece was your favorite? Share your experience in the Comments section below.

Here are some more posts about favorite art museums in Europe:

Front door of the Wilde Aparthotel

We Have a Winner – Stay at the Wilde ApartHotel in Central London

Destinations, England, Hotel Reviews carolcram 3 Comments on We Have a Winner – Stay at the Wilde ApartHotel in Central London

Last updated on March 22nd, 2023 at 11:29 pm

The Wilde Aparthotel at Covent Garden is the perfect place to stay on a short visit to London.

The price is reasonable (under $200 CDN a night when I booked, although this price may vary), the amenities and comforts are first rate, and the location unbelievable.

I’ve stayed in many places in London over the years, highlights being the ParkCity in Kensington and The Cavendish near Green Park, but never have I stayed in a place as fabulously located and appointed as Wilde Aparthotel, particularly if you, like me, are a theater nut.

Location, Location, Location

From the Wilde Aparthotel, you can walk to most West End theaters in under five minutes. Two of them are just across the street on the Strand.

After an evening at the theater, nothing kills the post-applause buzz like a long tube ride. I prefer to waltz no more than a few blocks along brightly lit streets thronged with other theatergoers. I especially appreciate the Wilde Aparthotel’s location when I am visiting London alone. Safety first, and for the solo traveler, the area feels very safe.

Value for Money at the Wilde Aparthotel

The Wilde Aparthotel, which is part of a chain owned by StayCity (their other property is at Paddington), has figured out how to provide visitors with a four-star experience in a five-star location at a price that won’t require them to mortgage their homes back home.

They cut corners on unnecessary stuff and spend money on things that directly contribute to customer comforts.

The two most obvious cuts are the lack of a lobby and breakfast service. A lobby is generally a waste of space and food is certainly not hard to come by in this part of London. Several coffee shops are within a five-minute walk of the hotel.

Arriving at the Wilde Aparthotel

Guests walk into a narrow entranceway and go immediately up the elevator to their rooms. Everything is sleek, modern and kind of quirky, befitting a hotel named after Oscar Wilde.

According to a plaque at the entrance, the hotel was opened by Oscar Wilde’s grandson. How cool is that!

An attendant is on duty each time I enter the hotel, always greeting me warmly and asking me if I need anything. Every staff member I encounter during my stay at the Wilde Aparthotel is friendly and professional. I feel like they really want me to have a good stay.

Room Features

My room is pretty tiny, but it has everything I can possibly need including a full kitchen, a desk, a fabulous rainforest shower, a large TV and a very comfy bed. Okay, I have to crawl across the bed and navigate around a million pillows to get to the window so I can open and close the curtains, but that’s not much of an inconvenience.

The room would be small for two people, but it is perfect for one.

Hotel room showing the bed at the Wilde Aparthotel Covent Garden
My very comfortable bed at the Wilde Aparthotel in Covent Garden

Free Stuff

The fridge is stocked with free glass bottles of water (with more available whenever needed) and snacks. Yes, you read that right–free.

Unlike every other hotel I’ve ever stayed in, the Wilde Aparthotel does not charge for the contents of the minibar. Gone is the feverish scanning of price lists at 3 am, recoiling at the eye-watering prices and then having to make the agonizing choice between eating dinner the next day and slaking your thirst.

Instead, I pluck a cold, recyclable glass bottle of water and happily chug it down, secure in the knowledge that I can have another…and another.

Kitchen area in the room at the Wilde Aparthotel in Covent Garden London
Kitchen area in the room at the Wilde Aparthotel in Covent Garden

Room Layout

The space is thoughtfully arranged with lots of little touches like fragrant shampoos and lotions in large refillable bottles, a sturdy umbrella which I needed on Day 2, fluffy towels, and good lighting. Really, it can’t be more perfect.

Back in the day, most affordable accommodation in London consisted of dreary bed-and-breakfasts with bathrooms down the hall, thin towels, lumpy beds, and hideous wallpaper reminiscent of Oscar Wilde’s last words on Earth.

Either that wallpaper goes or I do.

And he did.

What’s Close to the Wilde Aparthotel?

The Wilde Aparthotel is located on Adams Street just around the corner from the Strand. It’s no more than a five-minute walk from Trafalgar Square, the Thames, and Covent Garden.

Busses ply the Strand constantly to get to wherever you need to go in minutes. For my entire two-and-a-bit days in London, I never needed to take the Underground.

Numerous coffee shops and restaurants are very close by. On my first night, I enjoy a wonderful plate of fettucine and smoked salmon at Uvilo, an Italian place directly across the Strand from the hotel.

Fettuccine with smoked salmon – fabulous!

The portion is huge so I pack up the leftovers to store in my fridge. The small kitchen is equipped with a microwave and stove so the next day I’m able to heat up the leftovers for lunch. I’ve never had access to kitchen facilities in a London hotel.

I will definitely stay at the Wilde Aparthotel again and can recommend it unreservedly.

Other Recommended Hotels on Artsy Traveler

Myth-Making & Travel: Three Magical Moments with Trees in Dartmoor, England by Guest Poster Tina Overbury

Artsy Sightseeing, England, Get Inspired carolcram Leave a Comment on Myth-Making & Travel: Three Magical Moments with Trees in Dartmoor, England by Guest Poster Tina Overbury

Last updated on October 8th, 2024 at 02:50 am

An Artsy Traveler is always on the look-out for those magical moments that make traveling so, well, magical. And if you’re also a storyteller (like me and our guest poster), you can be extra vigilant in your search for those magical moments that lead to or affirm story.

Guest poster, writer, storyteller, performer (and fellow Bowen Islander!) Tina Overbury shares her experience finding magical moments with trees while participating in a writing program in Dartmoor, England (one of my favorite places!).

Myth-Making, Storytelling, & Magical Moments

‘Stories don’t enchant, they break spells’ – Dr. Martin Shaw, Storyteller and Mythologist, West Country School of Myth

I’m fresh back from a week-long summer school program called Tent of the Seven Doors from The West Country School of Myth. Led by storyteller and mythologist Dr. Martin Shaw, the program was located in Dartmoor in the southwest corner of England. 

The story room at night, at West Country’s School of Myth Summer School: The Tent of the Seven Doors with Dr. Martin Shaw.
The story room at night, at West Country’s School of Myth Summer School: The Tent of the Seven Doors with Dr. Martin Shaw.

I had just completed a two-week story pilgrimage in Ireland and decided that since I’m so close, I should really hop over to England and tick a story-box I’ve been carrying for a long time. 

Who is Dr. Martin Shaw?

I came across Dr. Martin Shaw’s work seven years ago when my writing partner, Meribeth Deen, sent me an article from Emergence Magazine: Mud and Antler Bone. I swear I listened to that interview fifty times. I used to run to it and then stop it mid-stride, catch my breath and slap my head with: What? What did he say…?

OMGGGGGG – There’s a language for what I see in my head? Other people talk like this?

I didn’t understand then that the way my instrument as an artist works is through ‘thinking’ and ‘hearing’ in mythological terms. 

What this looks like for my friends is that I have a rather obnoxious habit (to some) of explaining everything in metaphor. This isn’t because I think I’m all that and a bag of chips, or because I’m trying to hide from being clear about anything. It’s because to me, using symbols and imagery that are thick with textured meaning ARE the closest way I know to speak succinctly.

Communicating Truth

How else can you communicate the complexity of the truth? Or so says me! And thankfully I discovered this summer during my travels that a gaggle of other story people say so too. 

Let me tell you about three magic moments I had with trees in beautiful, mystical Dartmoor.  

Magical Moment 1: Finding the Ashes

Tangles of branches spotted while on a medicine walk in Dartmoor National Park as part of the Summer School, Tent of the Seven Doors.
Tangles of branches spotted while on a medicine walk in Dartmoor National Park as part of the Summer School, Tent of the Seven Doors.

To provide a context for the magical moments with trees I experienced while walking on Dartmoor, I first need to go back two years to when I wrote a piece called OMYGOD about the women we burned, the babies we buried and the Gods we have worshiped.

As the name sounds, it was a tough piece to write. I didn’t choose to write it, it chose me, and to top it all off, I decided to perform it as a live storytelling piece. However, due to the pandemic, we filmed it instead. All this to say, I had to memorize the damn thing–all 60 pages and 93 minutes of it.

The ‘women we burned’ part – the story that named six Irish women who were burned at the stake for witchcraft – was proving impossible to memorize. I just couldn’t get the words of those women into my body. I tried everything. I walked, I prayed, I asked… I did everything.

The Magical Power of Dreams

Eventually, I engaged in a dreaming session with a healer friend of mine. In the dream I saw myself as a birthing aid of sorts. I was in a hut smoothing clay like mud across a dying woman’s chest. She was taking her last breaths post-childbirth and I was placing lavender on her throat. Best as I could make sense, I was helping her transition to the other side. Because of this, the clergy and the officials of the town took me, and I was burned alongside a number of other women for witchcraft.

As dreams can do, I was able to step in and out of places in the story. I didn’t watch myself or the other women burn. Instead, I time jumped to the place where they were all ashes and I was on the outside.

I stood in front of the line of pyres in front of me, and I cried and cried and cried, saying over and over again…

’What happened to the ashes of these women? Who collected their ashes? Who laid them to rest?’

Finding the Story in a Tree

And then I stepped wayyyyyy out and started picking up pieces of wood and laying them in a circle, like a sacred line of acknowledgement of their life, and to mark their death.

A twisted tree on a lonely moor in Dartmoor, England, encountered by the author whle wjile on the medicine walk in Dartmoor National Park. 
I see flesh on her – this tree with ravens for limbs. I encountered her while on the medicine walk in Dartmoor National Park. 

Magical Moment #2: Exploring the Landscape of Place

The Tent of the Seven Doors program at The West Country School of Myth certainly wasn’t like any other writing class I’d taken. To be fair, it wasn’t a writing class. In fact, I’m not even sure it was a ‘class’, but rather an initiation into the realm of mythical storytelling. 

We didn’t learn through cognitive lesson plans with hand-outs or PowerPoints. We didn’t learn through experiences and examples unpacked through journaling or reflections. The truth is, I’m still trying to figure out how we learned, but if I had to guess, I’d have to say that we learned through invitation. 

  • We were invited to step from one world into another. 
  • We were invited through the landscape of place.
  • We were invited through the imagining that happened with each story. 

Each day we would experience a story, and each afternoon or evening we would experience the land. 

Connecting with a Lush and Luxuriant Oak

On one such afternoon, I came across this beautiful tree.

A magnificent oak tree in Dartmoor, England
An oak tree in Dartmoor

She’s a gorgeous oak and unlike most of the scarred and barren trees of the moor, she is lush and radiant and there is more limb and branch to her than trunk. She has been reaching toward the sun for a very long time. 

I spent some time with her and found myself collecting sticks. I was finishing a story that started with a dream a number of months ago. I acknowledged more women, and I collected more ashes. I placed a circle of sticks around her. 

A line of sticks laid out in front of the truck of an enormous oak tree in Dartmoor, England.
Encircling the oak with sticks

And then that dreamscape story of OMYGOD felt complete. I don’t have much more to say about that other than I knew it was done. 

But then…

Magical Moment #3: The Cork Tree Walks with Me

Have you ever seen a cork oak tree? Because I sure hadn’t. 

There is a HUGE cork oak by the enormous fire pit at the back of the property where we gathered to close our summer school experience. Seeing that tree made me think that I had just stepped into The Shire from The Lord of the Rings. I had to talk myself out of believing it could walk.

You know when you’re walking down the street and a dog starts to follow you and if you look back he’ll keep following so you have to discipline yourself TO NOT LOOK BACK?  Well, that was me. 

I mean, how was it going to make it into the house with me? Okay, I know this tree can’t actually walk. But jeeeeeeeeeeez… I swear, this tree was magnificent. 

It transported me to a place I have only ever made fun of: the land of affirmation people, the ones who only see the world through the lens of sunshine, rainbows and lollipops. 

But there it was. 

If Snow White was a real person, she would step out of a little apple-red door with the seven dwarfs following behind, singing Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho… 

Check this out (you’ll even hear the cows!) :

The Magic of a Cork Tree

And to touch the bark? I mean the cork… I mean the bark. It is light, like the false front of a western town film set, except this isn’t a facade. It’s a whole damn tree and it has to be hundreds of years old. 

She was the antithesis and antidote to all the gloom, grief and burning that had been my journey of mythic trees thus far. 

I fully expected unicorns and fairies to pour out of its bark like a clown car filled with magic instead of red-shoed men.

Who knew? 

Holding the Light and the Dark

As an artist, I’m comfortable in the darker shades of story. I easily walk the bottom of the ocean while holding hands with the harder emotions. I write pieces to look for hope. I write to discover the color that lives in the shadowy blend of things, but this time, I didn’t have to.

This gorgeous cork oak tree did all the heavy lifting for me. 

Learning Community

“In troubled times we can create a culture of resistance and delight. The learning community that is the School of Myth believes that myth has something vital to say about the condition of both our lives and the earth. That certain stories we need right now arrived, perfectly on time, about five thousand years ago. Central to this is the notion that culture and wildness have experienced an artificial separation, and that both initiation and myth can create what Shaw calls a Culture of Wildness.” – West Country School of Myth.

Martin also says: ‘When the center is in crisis, it is only from the edge that the genius comes’. I believe him.

So while these days, there IS a lot to be troubled about…for sure, there is also much to be hopeful for.

Group shot of the participants in summer 2022 in the Tent of the Seven Doors experience at the West Country School of Myth. 
This is the group of us from the Summer 2022 Tent of the Seven Doors experience at the West Country School of Myth. 

Please meet this community of Bards, Storytellers, Eco-Romantics, land-as-church visionaries, fire-dwellers, academics, nurturers and fools.

There is a movement afoot.

And it’s coming from multiple directions.

These are mythic times.

Read about Tina Overbury on the Artsy Traveler Guest Posters page. Here are some other contributions from Tina and other guest posters to help you get the most of your artsy traveling.

Top Ten Artsy Novels to Read in Europe

Destinations, England, France, Germany, Get Inspired, Italy, Netherlands, Spain carolcram 3 Comments on Top Ten Artsy Novels to Read in Europe

Last updated on October 17th, 2024 at 12:48 am

Do you enjoy reading novels set in the places you are traveling to? I know I do. I love curling up at the end of a long day of sightseeing and reading a novel that helps me revisit the places I’ve seen. My preference is historical novels because I love history, which is one of the many reasons that I’m drawn to traveling in Europe. I enjoy wandering cobbled back alleys and imagining myself swishing my long skirts through the dust. No doubt the reality was a lot less romantic and much smellier, but imagination can be a wonderful thing!

I’ve chosen my top ten novels based on two criteria. First, the novel needs to evoke a sense of the place in which it was set, and second, it needs to relate in some way to the arts. You’re sure to find some new-to-you reads to take along on your next trip, or even to stay at home with.

England

Entertaining Mr Pepys by Deborah Swift

Entertaining Mr Pepys is the third novel in Deborah Swift’s “Women of Pepys’ Diary” series. All three novels are worth taking along if you are spending time in London and want a fascinating glimpse of what life was like in the 1660s. Famed diarist Samuel Pepys is at the center of this and the first two novels (Pleasing Mr Pepys and A Plague on Mr Pepys), each following a different woman who knew Samuel and was mentioned in his diary. In Entertaining Mr Pepys, the actress Elizabeth (Bird) Carpenter takes center stage as she navigates the world of the theater when women were finally allowed on stage as actresses. If you enjoy impeccably researched historical novels with plenty of intrigue, then the “Women of Pepys’ Diary” series is for you.

The Lost Book of the Grail by Charlie Lovett

While traveling in England, plan on touring some of its awesome cathedrals (don’t miss York Minster, Salisbury Cathedral, and Durham Cathedral to name just three of my faves!) and then settle down with The Lost Book of the Grail. The setting is an ancient cathedral in the fictional town of Barchester. Flashback chapters open with succinct descriptions of cathedral areas such as cloisters, the nave, chapels, and more that I found fascinating. Through a series of clever flashbacks, you navigate the history of the cathedral from its founding by a martyred saint through the Norman invasion, Reformation, Civil War, Victorian era, World War II, and modern times. The plot’s twists and turns provide enough mystery to make the denouement both surprising and satisfying.

France

Drawing Lessons by Patricia Sands

Are you taking a trip to Provence? Then pack or download a copy of Drawing Lessons, a delicious novel set in Arles that follows a woman’s quest to redefine herself after the death of her husband. Patricia Sands evokes the sensuous delights of Provence so beautifully that you’ll feel like you are there. And if, indeed, you are there, you’ll have the sights and smells that surround you confirmed in the story.

The Paris Hours by Alex George

This is the novel to read when you’re spending time in Paris. The Paris Hours tells the stories of four “ordinary” people during one day in Paris in 1927. Along the way, they encounter an extraordinary panoply of luminaries including Hemingway, Proust, Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Ravel, Josephine Baker, and even Sylvia Beach, the proprietor of Paris’s most famous English bookstore, Shakespeare & Company. Alex George brings the ambience, and the people, of Paris to life as he takes readers through streets and parks they can still walk through today. Surprises and twists abound in one of the most cleverly plotted and exquisitely written novels I’ve read in a long while.

Germany

And After the Fire by Lauren Belfer

I am a huge fan of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (check out my visit to the Bach Museum in Leipzig) and so And After the Fire was the novel for me. It tells the fascinating story of a lost Bach manuscript with a disturbing message. The story spans over two hundred years, from Berlin in the 18th century through the Holocaust to New York in contemporary times. Inspired by historical events, the compelling narrative of this deeply researched and evocative novel resonates with emotion and immediacy.

Chasing the Wind by C. C. Humphreys

Heading for Berlin? Take along Chasing the Wind, a rollicking good adventure that mixes a Bruegel masterpiece, a female aviator, espionage, and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It’s a page-turner, so make sure you’ve finished your sightseeing for the day before reading it, else you may decide to stay in your hotel room and read rather than go out to sample Berlin’s many museums (check out Booming Berlin: Your Artsy Guide for suggestions about what to do during a three-day visit to Berlin).

Italy

Raphael, Painter in Rome by Stephanie Storey

No trip to Rome is complete without experiencing the art of Raphael, Michelangelo and da Vinci. And the perfect novel to accompany you is Raphael, Painter in Rome  by Stephanie Storey, and her other novel Oil and Marble. Both chronicle the lives of three of the most renowned artists in western Europe: Raphael in Raphael, Painter in Rome and Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci in Oil and Marble. Even in the 21st century, there are parts of old Rome in which only a small leap of the imagination is needed to be transported back to the Renaissance when intrigue lurked around every corner and the smell of oil paint was heavy in the air. Raphael. Painter in Rome takes you deep into the heart of a Rome that may be long gone but still lingers in the imagination after dark.

Netherlands

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

One of the things I love about touring the Netherlands is how the light often reminds me of an Old Master painting. One of the most famous is Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. So, the perfect read for fans of his work is the novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier. Set in 17th-century Delft, Girl with a Pearl Earring is a richly-imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired the painting. I love how Chevalier seamlessly merges history and fiction in this and many of her other novels set in Europe, including The Lady and the Unicorn (14th-century France), Burning Bright (late 18th-century London), Falling Angels (early 20th-century London), A Single Thread (1930s England), and Remarkable Creatures (early 19th-century England).

Spain

The Return by Victoria Hislop

I picked up a copy of The Return in a second-hand bookstore while wandering the back streets of Antibes seeking shade at the height of the 2019 heat wave (la canicule, as the French called it). It was the perfect novel to read while traveling west into Spain. It takes place both in the present and during the Spanish Civil War, a time in history about which I knew very little.  The story of a flamenco guitar player (a tocadores) and a flamenco dancer (a bailaora) who fall in love in 1930s Granada and are separated during the terrible excesses of the Spanish Civil War will stay with you long after you leave Spain.  

The Miramonde Trilogy by Amy Maroney

For a book lover, few things are more enchanting than enjoying a novel and then discovering that it’s the first in a trilogy. I had that experience after reading The Girl from Oto, the first offering in Amy Maroney’s trilogy about a female artist in Renaissance Spain, the other two novels being Mira’s Way and A Place in the World. I read all three not long after I traveled through the Pyrenees where much of the story takes place. Amy Maroney brings the region to life wonderfully—its wildlife and independent mountain people, the sweeping landscapes and harsh weather, and the turbulent history during the time when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were on the throne.

What’s your favorite artsy novel set in Europe? Share your recommendations with other Artsy Travelers in the Comments below.