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For this trip, you can work out the daily sightseeing schedules on your
own, depending on what best floats your artistic boat. Most cities have
two-and-a-half days of sightseeing time budgeted, which should be
enough to give the major museums a good once-over.
Head to London for Days 1 through 3. Your first order
of business should definitely be the medieval, Renaissance, and baroque
masterpieces of the National Gallery. The other great art collection is
the Tate Gallery, now divided between two buildings, one on each side
of the Thames; the original neoclassical gallery covers the British greats
and the vast new space in Southwark, the Tate Modern, concentrates on
international art in the 19th and 20th centuries (from Impressionism to
contemporary works), with stellar temporary exhibits.
While at the National Gallery, you may also want to nip around the
corner to stop in by the National Portrait Gallery (same building, different
entrance). Although the collection exists more for the historical
interest of its subjects, some artistically fine portraits reside here as
well (especially by Holbein, Reynolds, and Warhol).
No museum buff should miss the Victoria & Albert Museum, which has
London’s best sculpture collection (Donatello, Giambologna, and Bernini)
and a fascinating exhibit on artistic fakes and forgeries, in addition to
miles of decorative arts.
If you’re into Christopher Wren’s brand of Renaissance architecture,
you’re in luck — the city’s full of it — but his greatest hit is St. Paul’s
Cathedral. And I can’t imagine a trip to London without calling on the
British Museum, at least briefly, where you can get the best overview of
the ancient world’s art forms (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Assyrian, Asian,
Indian, and Islamic).
On the morning of Day 4, catch a Eurostar train to Paris.
Spend Days 4 through 6 in the City of Light, exploring the treasures of
the Louvre over a full day at least. Fans of Impressionism and French art
in general should devote at least two-thirds of a day to the Musee d’Orsay.
Paris has so many smaller art museums that choosing from among them
can be difficult and squeezing them all in can be nearly impossible.
Whole museums are devoted to single artists (Rodin, Picasso, Delacroix,
Le Corbusier, and Dalí), and others are devoted to eras — such as the
medieval at underrated Thermes de Cluny, or the modern at the incomparable
Georges Pompidou.
Two of my favorite, slightly lesser-known art treasures are the Delacroix
murals in the church of St-Suplice and Monet’s 360-degree Waterlilies in
specially built basement rooms of the Orangerie, off Place de la Concorde.
At the end of Day 6, hop on the overnight train to Florence.
Days 7 through 9 are for Florence. Reserve one entire
day for the Uffizi galleries, a living textbook of Renaissance development.
The Pitti Palace’s Galleria Palantina covers the High Renaissance
and baroque eras thoroughly. Michelangelo’s David and his unfinished
Slaves in the Accademia are a must, and Donatello reigns supreme at the
Bargello sculpture museum.
Fra’ Angelico frescoed his brothers’ cells at his monastery of San Marco,
and they’re now open as a fine museum of his works. Florence’s churches
are so richly decorated I scarcely know where to begin: Giotto in Santa
Croce; Ghirlandaio in Santa Maria Novella and Stana Trìnita; Donatello
and Michelangelo at San Lorenzo and again in the Museo dell’Opera dell
Duomo; Masaccio in Santa Maria della Carmine (the restored St. Peter’s
frescoes by him and teacher Masolino) and in Santa Maria Novella (his
Trinita fresco is the first work in history using true linear perspective).
Then you can see Brunelleschi’s architecture, from the Duomo’s dome to
Santo Spirito to the Pazzi chapel at Santa Croce. Florence is one place
where you’ll definitely run out of time long before you run out of art.
Days 10 through 12 find you in Rome. Take the morning
train here from Florence on Day 10 and start exploring the baroque
period with Bernini’s sculptures on Piazza Navona, Piazza Barberini, and
in the Galleria Borghese.
The Vatican Museums (home to the Raphael Rooms, the Pinacoteca
painting gallery, and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel) take at least twothirds
of a day. The Capitoline Museums split their collections between
ancient sculpture and mosaics and Renaissance and baroque painting.
Some smaller museums include the Doria Pamphilij collections and the
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, split between the Palazzo Barberini
(near Via Veneto) and Palazzo Corsini (in Trastevere).
Rome’s churches are blanketed with art, from Filippino Lippi’s frescoes
in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (where you also find Michelangelo’s Risen
Christ) to the Caravaggios in Santa Maria del Popolo and Michelangelo’s
Moses in San Pietro in Vincoli. Again, you’re unlikely to run out of art to
ogle in just three days here.
On the evening of Day 12, get on the overnight train for the long haul to
Barcelona. If you don’t like those overnight trains, wait until morning and
hop the 8:55 a.m. train. Volareweb.com (http://buy.volareweb.com)
sells no-frills flights to Barcelona for around $65.
Spend Day 13 in the Catalonian capital of Barcelona.
You should definitely take in the intriguing early Picasso works at the
museum dedicated to this hometown hero and make a survey of Antoni
Gaudí’s whimsical architecture. At the end of the day, hop the overnight
train to Madrid.
Plunge into the myriad museums of Madrid on Days 14
and 15. Spain is the land of Picasso, Velazquez, Goya, El Greco (by adoption),
Murillo, and Ribera. You have a day to devote to the Museo del
Prado and another day to split between the Reina Sofía museum (home
of Picasso’s Guernica), the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and — if you
can stand any more art at this point — the Museo Lazaro Galdiano.
Day 16 is your travel-home day.
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