Culture Vultures Must Dos

Exhibitions, opera and ballet reasons in the art capitals of the world

1. SHARK ATTACK IN LONDON

Genius or con artist? Decide for yourself at London’s big draw this summer; Brit art’s bad boy Damien Hirst’s blockbuster retrospective at Tate Modern. Pickled sharks, spots, a diamond encrusted skull and dead flies are all on show. Book your €17.42 ticket before you book your flight. Ends September 9th. Across town visit the VA’s Modernism exhibition which dedicates a whole room to Hirst’s restaurant The Pharmacy.

Tel: 00420-78878752. Tate.org.uk

2. REINTRODUCE YOURSELF TO MATISSE MATISSE

Pairs and Sets at the Centre Pompidou highlights the artist's repeated exploration of the the pair or set. Comprising sixty paintings and 30 drawings, it traces his career from 1899 to 1952. The paintings, paper cuts and a series of drawings entitled Themes and Variations shine a light on the colour, framing and stylisation processes and techniques developed by the Matisse. Tickets €14. Exhibition ends June 18th. Tel: 0033-144 781 233 Centrepompidou.fr

3. OLD MASTER IN BARCELONA

Madrid is too hot in summer. Some 200km from his birthplace in Fuendetodos, Aragón, Goya Lights and Shadows: Masterpieces of the Museo del Prado travels to the far more temperate Barcelona where at CaixaForum it chronicles his use of chiaroscuro, or light and shadow, and includes The Clothed Maja, Witches Flight and I Am Still Learning.

Runs until June 24th. Entry is free. Tel: 0034-934 768 630 Obrasocial.lacaixa.es

4. MEET PORTUGAL’S BEST-KNOWN 18TH-CENTURY SCULPTOR

Joaquim Machado de Castro is the most celebrated Portuguese sculptor of the 18th century. His best-known work, the equestrian statue of King José I of Portugal, on Lisbon’s Praça do Comércio can be viewed for free. The Virtuous Creator at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga brings together for the first time an extensive set of his statues and models.

Tickets €5. Ends September 30th. Tel: 0035-1213 912 800 Mnarteantiga-ipmuseus.pt/

5. SING IT LOUD IN BERLIN

See the second instalment of the National Gallery's extensive 20th-century art collection. Divided Heaven. 1945-1968 tracks the eventful years from Germany's "economic miracle", the building of the Berlin Wall, Sputnik and Apollo, to Kennedy and Mao-stark contrasts. Tel: 004930- 266424242 Smb.museum/nng. And go to the opera. Starting Monday July 2nd Komische Oper Berlin shows all its premieres of the year in a seven days' celebration of wonderful music.

Tel: 0049-304-7997-400 Komische-oper-berlin.de/en

6. GIVE KLIMT A KISS IN VIENNA

Vienna marks the 150th anniversary of Gustav Klimt by honouring the painter with several special exhibitions on his life, work and the Jugendstil movement. Masterpieces in Focus: 150 Years of Gustav Klimt in the baroque setting of the Upper Belvedere Museum is just one. It runs from July 13th to January 6th and will concentrate on the individual works redeeming Klimt’s finest works from their much maligned chocolate box art status.

Tel: 0043-179 5570 Belvedere.at

7. FASHION ICONS IN NEW YORK

The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art spring 2012 Costume Institute exhibition, Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, explores two Italian designers from very different eras; Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada. Bone up now before the luxe label is relaunched, with the recent announcement of the opening of Maison Schiaparelli on Place Vendôme in Paris and the brand’s first collection in nearly 60 years showing next March.

Tickets €19.35. Ends August 19th. Tel: 001-212 708 9400, MoMA.orgor metmuseum.org/impossibleconversations

8. BAUHAUS IN CORK

Bauhaus-trained modernist Josef Albers was born and raised a Catholic. This exhibition explores the influence his religious upbringing and his admiration for the masters of early Christian art and architecture had on his work. The exhibition, The Sacred Modernist: Josef Albers, includes pieces from his time at the Bauhaus, North Carolina’s Black Mountain College, and his final 1976 Homage to the Square.

Show ends July 8th. Admission free.

Tel: 021-490 1844 Glucksman.org

9. ALL WHITE ON THE NIGHT

St Petersburg is at its most lustrous during Belye nochi, what the Russians call summer’s White Nights. Mark the occasion by visiting the Stars of the White Nights Festival at the Mariinsky Theatre from May 25th to July 15th. Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov reigned supreme here. On June 23rd see ballet’s future stars at the Final Graduation Performance of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.

Prices approx €10.50 - €66 Mariinsky.ru/en

10. FOOTBALL AND CULTURE CRAZY

Going to Gdansk to see Ireland play Spain? Roads to Freedom is an exhibition at the European Solidarity Centre that tracks life in Poland from 1944 to 1989. The opening set shows the life of the average Pole circa late 1970s and takes you through the landmark protests of 1970, the months of Solidarity and Hope in 1980/1981, the introduction of martial law and in 1989 the first, non-communist Government.

Tickets €1.41. Tel: 0048-587 677 971 ecs.gda.pl