Four cultural spots to hit this spring

A photographic shout out to hip-hop in Manhattan

Hip-hop was born in a basement party in the Bronx in 1973, so it is said. Although a myriad of events and shows have explored its history since then, the one currently marking hip-hop’s 50th at Fotografiska on Park Avenue – the Manhattan satellite of Sweden’s great photography museum – is a must-see any student of the aesthetics of the genre. Hip-Hop: Conscious, Unconscious, which opened last week, is co-curated by Sacha Jenkins, the cult magazine’s chief creative officer Mass Appeal and the mastermind behind the Showtime original series Hip Hop 50.

It surveys the history of music and the vast international cultural phenomenon it gave rise to – which, as anyone who read magazines between 1980 and 2015 knows, gave rise to some of the best and most directional portraits of the last half century. From The Notorious BIG and Afrika Bambaataa to Mary J Blige and Eve (female contributions get a big nod), through Public Enemy, Nas and dozens of others, there are more than 200 photographs dated between 1972 and 2022. If you can’t make it to NYC, the show is set to travel to Stockholm and then Berlin later this year. Until 21 May; fotografiska.com

Wait A central location in the Village with sixth-arrondissement style, and a 15-minute walk to Fotografiska’s Lower Park Avenue location: the Marlton offers both, plus satisfying value for money in the heart of the “hey; because we can” rates are being asked by some of the biggest players in town. From $203; marltonhotel.com

Hail Hepworth in Cornwall

Barbara Hepworth moved to Cornwall in 1939, and never left; she found her spiritual home in St Ives, where her studio is now the Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. Tate St Ives’ current wide show, Barbara Hepworth: Art and Lifebrings together nearly five decades worth of work across multiple media: drawings, paintings, prints and, of course, her incredible sculptures – a career-long dialogue in stone, bronze and wood with “standing”, “two” and “closed” forms, many of which are collected here. Until 1 May; tate.org.uk

Wait The sweet and modest rooms at The Gurnard’s Head – a few miles out of town, on one of the most beautiful stretches of the St Ives-to-Pendeen South West Coast Path – are all you need: good beds, pretty colours, books on your shelves and, downstairs, food that attracts them from far and wide. From £155; gurnardshead.co.uk

Blockbuster Vermeer Amsterdam

We got wind of the Rijksmuseum’s ambitious Vermeer show over a year ago, and we’re hard pressed to say whether Harry Styles is the ticket we’ve been coveting and planning for more. (Not as far-fetched as it sounds: Johannes from Delft is the Dutch Golden Age’s answer to full-on rock stardom, and it’s the greatest Vermeer show of all time.) It’s also a greatest hits tour de force, oh Girl with a Pearl Earring a View from Delft – both on loan from the Mauritshuis in The Hague – i The Lacemaker a The Milk maid.

His mastery of light and shadow is something you need to see up close, in person, to truly appreciate. The fact that the Rijksmuseum is a ‘knockout’ building is more of a reason to go (as is the fact that there is a Eurostar connection). Opens 10 February; rijksamgueddfa.nl

Wait For the full canalside experience – and a clever and unique Vermeer skip-the-queue package – book into the Pulitzer, which is spread across a handful of 17th and 18th century canal houses on the Prinsengracht, a 20 minute walk. from the museum. From €399; Vermeer Package from €630; pulitzeramsterdam.com

Andy Warhol looks great (Basquiat too) in Paris

The Fondation Louis Vuitton has been knocking it out of the park with one great hit after another, from the revealing Charlotte Perriand retrospective in 2019 to last year’s game. Icons of Modern Art who collected 200 seminal modern masterpieces that, at some point in the 19th or 20th century, all belonged to the uber-collecting Morozov family. Here’s another to book the Eurostar (and tickets) for in April: Basquiat x Warhol: Painting 4 Hands brings together more than 160 works of art by the two New York legends created during the mid-80s period at the height of Basquiat’s career (and just two years before Warhol died, followed by Basquiat a year later).

They include 80 canvases that are signed by both. The likes of Jenny Holzer, Kenny Scharf and Keith Haring – who once compared the meeting of these two artists to the creation of a “distinct and unique third mind” – are also in the mix for the context of the downtown scene. Opens 5 April; fondationlouisvuitton.fr

Wait If you see the show in early summer, La Fantaisie opens on 1 June to welcome you in the chic style of Martin Brudnizki on rue Cadet on the edge of Pigalle. Die-hard foodies may already know that it marks the return of San Francisco-based Dominique Crenn, the only female chef to win three Michelin stars in the US. From €550; lavender.com