Art

The iron sculpture shown in the photo in the October 2014 issue is one of nine power-operated, water-spouting pieces of art installed in the Tinguely Fountain in Basel, Switzerland.

9 days/7 nights, June 30-July 10, 2009. Highlights: In Dordogne region, stay in Antibes for six 3-hour morning painting classes — one-on-one instruction in water media, acrylic, mixed media, collage, earth pigments/excursions to Matisse Chapel, Picasso Museum, historic Grotte farmers’ market, Château de Monbazillac, Moulin de Larroque art paper shop. Land price, $3,100. Single supplement, $550. Art Treks (Bolinas, CA; 415/868-9558, www.arttreks.com).

A replica of the cave of Ekain, notable for its many prehistoric paintings, has been opened north of Bilbao, Spain. 500 meters from the real cave, the replica showcases Ekain’s art in the same order and placement as in the original.

Closed Monday, the cave is open 10-6 Tuesday-Friday and 10-7 weekends, holidays and summer. The price of €5 ($7) adult or €4 senior/student for a 30-minute guided tour includes entry to the exhibition all day.

In Queensland, Australia’s, Carnarvon National Park, the Art Gallery is an area of sandstone overhangs with aboriginal art thousands of years old. Hundreds of handprints large and small, ochre and ash stencils, freehand paintings and engravings that depict aspects of indigenous life can be found off a 5.4-kilometer footpath through Carnarvon Gorge.

The park is home to platypuses, whiptail wallabies, yellow-bellied gliders and over 173 species of birds.

The Scharf-Gerstenberg collection, housed in Berlin in the newly renovated Stüler building (10 miles east of the city center, opposite the castle), is hosting a 10-year exhibition of surrealist and presurrealist art. Including works by René Magritte, Paul Klee and Salvador Dalí, the collection is open 10-6 Tuesday-Sunday. €8 ($12.50).

Contact the Stülerbau (Schloßstraße 70, 14059 Berlin, Germany; phone +49 0 30 34357315, fax +49 0 30 3435 7312, www.smb.museum).

The Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1924) was a modernist and the founder of abstract painting. His Blue Rider School is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and in Munich the Lenbachhaus (Luisenstrasse 33, 80333 Munich, Germany; phone +49 89 233 32 00 0, fax 32 00 3, www.lenbachhaus.de) is holding an exhibition of about 90 of his works, Oct. 25, 2008-Feb. 22, 2009.

Celebrating the art of Jean Michel Folon, exhibits are planned throughout Belgium, until Sept. 28, 2008, including a major outdoor sculpture exhibition in Solvay Park at the Château de La Hulpe (Folon Foundation, Dreve de la Ramee 6A, 1310 La Hulpe, Belgium; phone +32 0 2 653 34 56, www.foundationfolon.be), 10-6 Tuesday-Sunday  (€7.50 adult).

Several major chains are offering hotel packages.

Themed walking seminars in six cities: London, Paris, Rome, Naples, Florence and Venice. Examples follow. Vasari Corridor (FLORENCE), April 25, May 23, June 13 & July 11, 2008, 3:45-5:45 p.m., at €110 (near $165) including Uffizi Gallery admission. The Vasari Corridor was built in the 16th century to allow the Medicis passage from the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace without having to mingle with commoners.

The valley near Vila Nova de Foz Côa, in northeastern Portugal, is home to extensive displays of underground and outdoor Paleolithic art — horses, aurochs (wild bulls), etc.

The site, which was originally to be covered with water from a dam, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 and opened to the public. In the center is the museum Quinta da Ervamoira, showing bread making and wine producing.

8-day/7-night tours in 2010 include six half-day art classes in mixed-media technique. Collioure: stay in this “Vermillion Coast” fishing village just north of Spanish border, June 21-28. Land only, from $2,895. Single supplement, $350. Languedoc-Roussillon: medieval Carcassonne, Cathar castles, cave art in Dordogne, June 28-July 5. Land only, from $3,250. Single supplement, $420. Art Trek (Bolinas, CA; 415/868-9558, www.arttreks.com).