You know Israel is a great place for cultural immersion when you consider the fact that there are more museums per capita in Israel than in any country on earth. These museums are not only stunning architectural marvels, but they also hold all sorts of treasures within. Galleries, too, are making a mark with emerging artists displaying their latest works of art in funky spaces.
Tel Aviv offers a burgeoning contemporary art scene with new art galleries and a museum that lures art connoisseurs. The annual Fresh Paint art fair in Tel Aviv, for instance, which takes place in May, features the nation’s leading contemporary art galleries, representing international and local artists. True art lovers, of course, will be fascinated by the fact that the fair also showcases the works of 50 select, independent, emerging Israeli artists. The renowned Tel Aviv Museum of Art also puts the spotlight on contemporary local artists, but digs into the past as well with exhibits on international works from the mid-19th century to the present, as well as art from the 16th to the 19th century, among other collections.
Jerusalem’s cultural events calendar, meanwhile, is filled to the brim with everything from music and film festivals to one of the year’s most coveted exhibitions, Herod the Great, at the Israel Museum. This latter exhibit, which is the world’s first exhibition on the life and legacy of Herod the Great, presents 250 archaeological findings.
In Ein Hod, a communal settlement and artists’ colony in northern Israel, a must-visit is The Janco-Dada Museum, displaying the work of Marcel Janco, one of the founders of the international Dada movement.
Beyond museums, Israel offers a treasure trove of puppet theater, arts and crafts fairs, chamber music festivals, dance concerts and theater, and opera performances.… In fact, the Israeli Opera will host several performances of Verdi’s La Traviata on a specially erected stage at the foothills of Masada in June 2014.
