What's on at Europe's Museums

Der Blaue Reiter Retrospective

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

As a result of an exchange with Munich's Lenbachhaus gallery, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne is showing a collection of 65 paintings from Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) school. Blauer Reiter artists -- Expressionists who followed on the heels of the Impressionists -- worked in the years leading up to World War I. Among the group's key members were Wassily Kandinsky (whose painting Le cavalier blue lent the school its name), Franz Marc, August Macke, and Paul Klee. All are heavily represented here, as are some of the group's lesser known members. Although the group disbanded at the outset of the war, Paul Klee continued the group's mission.

"Der Blaue Reiter in Köln" runs through June 27, 2004. The museum is open Tuesday through Thursday and on weekends from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Friday from 11 until 6 p.m., and every first Friday in the month until 11 p.m.

Designs of a Baroque Architect

Baroque Museum, Salzburg

Vienna's Karlskirche and Schönbrunn Palace, Salzburg's Kollegienkirche: Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1732) was a decisive influence on Austrian baroque architecture. Designs and drawings from the Graz-born builder are now on view at the Salzburg Baroque Museum, in the show "Design and Fantasy." The exhibit presents designs, drawings, models and theoretical writings that the architect sketched out in his theoretical book "Designs of a Historic Architecture."

"Design and Fantasy" runs through May 31. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.; Sunday and holidays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Eduardo Chillida's poetic sculptures

Caixa Galicia Foundation, Santiago de Compostela

The Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida (1924-2000) became internationally known for his heavy iron sculptures. But the source of his inspiration was the "aroma" of a material, Chillida once wrote in a poem. The current exhibit "Aromas," in the Galician town of Santiago de Compostela, takes a look at the poetic, unknown side of the artist, focusing on his fragile terra cotta and alabaster sculptures as well as works on paper. There are also drawings by the sculptor.

The exhibit runs through June 2 and is open Monday through Friday from 12 until 2 p.m. and 4 p.m until 9 p.m.

Reflections on a Jugendstil Master

Kunsthal Rotterdam

The Kunsthal Rotterdam is staging the first Dutch retrospective of work by the world-famous Jugendstil (German form of Art Nouveau) artist Alphonse Mucha. The exhibition includes mainly paintings but also posters and works of applied art. Mucha, born in 1860 in what is now the Czech Republic, was able more than any other to convey the melancholy Slav temperament in his pictures. In 1887, he moved to Paris, where he found instant fame with his first poster, designed in 1894 for a play featuring Sarah Bernhardt. In France Art Nouveau was initially known as ‘le style Mucha.’ The actress and the artist entered into a six-year collaboration that enjoyed prolific results: Mucha was asked to design stage decors, costumes and jewelery for the diva.

Alphonse Mucha, Master of Jugenstil runs through May 23. The exhibit is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays and public holidays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.