UNFAILINGLY FASCINATING when left untouched, intriguing to see when lovingly recreated, recognisable however they may be resurrected, a creative hive provides a trove of insight into the practice and persona of the artist. Today, there are hundreds of artists’ studios that can be visited. From the Red House to the grain shop in Bohain-en-Vermandois where Henri Matisse first learnt to paint; from the Rembrandthuis to Gainsborough’s House; Rubenshuis to the Villa Mondriaan; Salvador
Dali’s house, Kelmscott Manor (William Morris’s ‘loveliest haunt of ancient peace’ in the Cotswolds), Casa Bonarroti (the Florentine palazzo owned by Michelangelo and converted to a museum), the Aalto house, the Musée Zadkine in the heart of Montparnasse, the list has grown enormously over the last decade. Here are just a few where you can get remarkable snapshots of the lives of artists and where, in many cases, they created their greatest works.
