The Monet and Venice exhibit at the de Young museum in San Francisco, on view through July 26, 2026, is truly a feast for the eyes. Monet and Venice marks the biggest collection of Monet's Venice paintings under one roof since his original exhibition of them in 1912. In addition to 21 (out of the 37 that he painted) Monet paintings of Venice, the show includes Venice scenes from other greats such as Whistler, Renoir, Sargent, Turner, and Signac. Monet’s Venice canal paintings feature both well-known landmarks like the church of San Giorgio Maggiore as well as private palazzos, all bathed in a soft, hazy light he described as the enveloppe.

Hodler, Giacometti, Picasso, and more! The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire (MAH) in Geneva has a fabulous collection of Swiss and other European art. This blog shares my favorite paintings from a recent visit to MAH.

Highlights from the National Museum in Oslo include: Blue Hour and Natteglød paintings by Norwegian artist Harald Sohlberg, a contemporary of Edvard Munch; snow scenes by Claude Monet, who spent a winter in Norway and asked Frits Thaulow for advice on painting snow; a Midsummer Night Bonfire (Jonsokbäl) painting by Nikolai Astrup; and a painting of the Norwegian folktale White Bear King Valemon by Theodor Kittelsen. Many of the painting are reminiscent of paintings in the Northern Lights exhibit in Buffalo, NY that I wrote about a few months ago: they feature glowing night skies, majestic mountains, and uninhabited, wild landscapes. 

Munson in Utica, NY: a truly amazing small US art museum. In addition to owning the original version of Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life (The National Gallery has a later version) this gem of a museum has an impressive collection of 20th century masterpieces. Featured here are works by Mark Rothko, Milton Avery, Edward Hopper, Piet Mondrian, and Gino Severini.

Top things to do in Buffalo, NY include the Northern Lights exhibition of Scandinavian and Canadian landscape painters at the Buffalo AKG museum. These 71 paintings capture the ever-shifting light and the majestic beauty of the unspoiled North, particularly the boreal forests, and are some of the most beautiful landscape paintings ever. Through sweeping forest vistas, icy lakes, and glowing skies, Northern Lights immerses viewers in the shared visual language of northern modernism — a luminous dialogue between European and Canadian artists that is both unexpected and breathtaking. For anyone interested in modern art, landscape painting, or cross-cultural artistic influences, this is a must-see exhibition.