There’s something about summer in Europe that stirs the senses: the scent of warm stone, the hush of old churches and museums, the thrill of discovering something beautiful and unexpected. While the beaches and gelato may tempt, this season’s art exhibitions are reason enough to pack a bag and go gallery-hopping. From kinetic sculpture in a Tuscan chapel to AI-enhanced Klimt in Vienna, here are six destinations where art doesn’t just hang on walls — it breathes, moves and provokes.
A church of contemporary wonders in Tuscany, Italy
Set among the vineyards and olive groves of San Pancrazio, the 13th-century Chiesa di San Rocco is the oldest religious building in the village — and each summer, it becomes an unexpectedly stirring space for contemporary art. Still owned by the local parish and just across the square from Palazzo Tiglio, the small church is offered up for exhibitions by artists with ties to Tuscany. The result is a seasonal series that feels as intimate as it is internationally relevant.
This year’s programme reads like a masterclass in sensory storytelling. First up is Nathalia Edenmont (19 April – 2 July), whose elaborately staged photographic portraits explore themes of birth, death, beauty and decay. Her work sits at the edge of attraction and repulsion, layering painterly technique with photographic precision. Next comes Swiss artist Étienne Krähenbühl (4 July – 19 September), whose kinetic sculptures gently shiver and hum with unseen energy. Suspended metal forms sway, twist and breathe, making the church itself feel like a living organism. Rounding out the season is Sleeping Gold by Dutch designer Grietje Schepers (24 September – 28 November). Her immersive installation breathes — quite literally — inviting visitors to pause in the presence of a soft, golden form that gently inflates and deflates, transforming the space into something shared and alive.
Where to stay: Palazzo Tiglio, a family-owned luxury boutique hotel in the heart of Tuscany.
Seaside impact and soft robotics in Copenhagen, Denmark
A short train ride north of Copenhagen lies the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art — arguably the most beautifully situated gallery in Europe, with sweeping views of the Øresund strait. This summer, it hosts Robert Longo (11 April – 31 August), whose monumental black-and-white drawings are as emotionally potent as they are technically precise. His works — often political and deeply cinematic — command attention, whether it’s a wave frozen mid-crash or a bullet slicing through space.
Back in the city, Copenhagen Contemporary offers a different kind of motion. Soft Robots (20 June – 31 December) is a shape-shifting exhibition that explores how art and technology can interact in surprisingly tender ways. Think sculptures that breathe, light up, or curl like sea creatures when you approach. It’s weird, wonderful, and perfectly Copenhagen.
Where to stay: Ascot Hotel, housed in a former bathhouse, nails the balance between historic character and Scandi-cool — and it’s just minutes from Tivoli and the city’s best galleries.
Digital revelations and postwar realism in Vienna, Austria
Vienna knows how to do summer with style: open-air cinema, chilled white wine, and galleries that pair centuries of tradition with bold innovation. The Belvedere Museum leads the way with Gustav Klimt – Pigment & Pixel (until 7 September 2025), a dazzling exhibition that goes well beyond the gold leaf. Expect radiological analysis, pigment studies and AI-generated reconstructions of Klimt’s lost works — a deeply modern tribute to the Viennese Secessionist.
Over at the Wien Museum, Reality as an Attitude (until 17 August 2025) shifts the focus to the raw realism of postwar Austrian art. It’s a powerful, sometimes gritty look at how artists responded to trauma, daily life and changing identities.
For something quieter and more contemplative, the Albertina’s upcoming show by Czech-German photographer Jitka Hanzlová (11 July – 2 November) is all about memory, landscape and the act of seeing.
Where to stay: Hotel Stefanie, the oldest hotel in Vienna, serves old-world elegance with a side of storytelling, or Hotel Erzherzog Rainer offers timeless charm just steps from the cultural action.
Radical care and cultural storytelling in Cork, Ireland
Over on Ireland’s southern coast, The Glucksman in Cork is quietly doing some of the most meaningful curatorial work in Europe. Their latest exhibition, Labour of Love: Economies of Care in Contemporary Art, doesn’t just look good — it feels vital. Through performance, visual art and interactive installation, the show invites visitors to think differently about labour, empathy and what we owe one another. It’s a deeply moving experience, rooted in contemporary issues and community engagement.
The Glucksman’s striking glass building, set in the wooded campus of University College Cork, is worth the visit alone — but this summer’s themes of solidarity and creative care make it particularly resonant.
Where to stay: The Metropole Hotel is a cultural landmark in its own right. With views over the River Lee, it’s a stylish base for exploring the city.
Studio legacy in the Swiss Alps: Celerina, Switzerland
Amid the alpine calm of Celerina lies a quiet pocket of modernist legacy. The village was home to the studios of Turo Pedretti (1896–1964) and his son Giuliano Pedretti (1924–2012), whose sculptures interrogated the very essence of space and being. Giuliano, considered the last representative of classical modernism, pushed sculpture beyond aesthetic objecthood — his haunting ‘Schizo’ series is like nothing else in European art.
Several of Pedretti’s human-scale works are now installed in the gardens of the Cresta Palace Hotel, turning an afternoon stroll into a sculpture trail. Guests can also visit the nearby studio, just a few minutes’ walk from the hotel, for a deeper insight into his creative world. In a season full of moving art, this is a chance to encounter work that is both physically and philosophically in motion.
Where to stay: Cresta Palace Celerina — a hotel with a soul, where art and alpine elegance converge.
A residency of imagination in Santorini, Greece
Santorini may conjure images of whitewashed villages and caldera sunsets — and rightly so. But in the hilltop village of Pyrgos, something quieter and more creative is taking shape. Villa Santa Croce, a lovingly restored historic residence, has launched an artistic residency that turns the iconic island into a space for making as well as marvelling.
This isn’t a typical residency programme. Artists from across disciplines are invited to take part in a three-day “laboratory” of experimentation and guided creativity, followed by an optional four-day immersion into the island’s cultural and mythological past. Think local encounters, curated tours, and time to reflect amid Santorini’s elemental beauty.
It’s a gentle revolution in a destination better known for honeymoons and cruise ships — a reminder that the Cyclades have long been a source of inspiration for poets, painters and philosophers alike.
Where to stay: Villa Santa Croce itself, a serene sanctuary rooted in heritage and imagination. It’s not just a place to stay — it’s part of the art.