Darkness falls. As the restaurants, bars and clubs fill and empty in turn, a stream of breathless people, their senses sharpened by the night, skip through the turnstiles of an art gallery or a museum. On certain days each year, museums and galleries remain open from dusk until dawn, offering hundreds of free activities. The idea was born 10 years ago in Berlin, then adopted in Amsterdam and Paris, and the craze quickly spread all over Europe.
Strange as it may seem, this simple idea has rejuvenated cultural institutions across the world, and events such as La Nuit Blanche, an annual all-night festival of culture that was launched in Paris in October 2002, has now spread to more than 20 cities and countries worldwide, from Canada to Israel, from Leeds to Seoul. Next week, in a historic move, Le Grand Palais in Paris will be raising the stakes by opening the doors of its record-breaking exhibition Picasso and the Old Masters for an 83-hour marathon. So if you crave some cubism at 3am, you know where to go.
Here is our selection of this year's best night art events:
Le Grand Palais, Paris, 30 January-2 February
To start the year with a bang, Le Grand Palais will welcome visitors to its Picasso and the Old Masters art show non-stop for four days and three nights, from 9am on 30 January until 8pm on 2 February. And on 30 and 31 January at 8.30pm, the Quarter Hélios will give a free concert, Musiques pour Picasso, with a programme of Debussy, Schoenberg and Duhamel.
• Tickets €12, concessions €8, under 13s free (0033 892 684 694, rmn.fr).
Lange Nacht der Museen, Berlin, 31 January/29 August
The veteran of night art events is held twice a year, in January and August. Home to the Pergamon, Bode, Old and New Museums, the Museum Island (museumsinsel-berlin.de) in the heart of the city will offer free lectures, workshops and film screenings on 31 January. From 6pm-10pm, a workshop at the Bode will be teaching children how to make mosaics, the Roman way.
• Tickets €15, concessions €10, under 12s free (0049 30 247 49 888, museums portal-berlin.de). Check the programme on lange-nacht-der-museen.de.
Nuit des Musées, Europewide, 16 May
The Nuit des Musées is now celebrated by more than 2,000 museums across Europe offering free activities to millions of visitors. Last year, they could learn butter-making at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading, palaeontology at the zoology museum of Rome and carpet-making in Baku at the national carpet museum of Azerbaijan.
• This year's programme will soon be online at: nuitdesmusees.culture.fr.
La Noche en Blanco, Madrid, 12 September
La Noche en Blanco, the Spanish verison of La Nuit Blanche, should live up to its reputation as one of the most torrid of all the white nights now taking place all over the world. The whole city comes alive with promenaders and street gatherings. Every year, madrileños dance in the public fountains and improvise flamenco competitions on cafe terraces while admiring the night's art installations, discussing videos projected on to historical facades and visiting the city centre's celebrated art galleries. This is one not to be missed on any account.
• esmadrid.com/lanocheenblanco.
Museumnacht, Amsterdam, 30-31 October
A must for night art aficionados, this event will be celebrating its 10th edition with 42 museums open from 7pm to 2am. The programme will soon be online at n8.nl, and will no doubt include events that have become popular over the years such as tea at midnight at the Van Loon Museum, a concert at Anne Frank's House and 3D music and art video clips screening at the media museum (3D glasses will be provided).
• Tickets cost €17 and will give you access to all venues as well as the city's buses, trams and metros until 6am; it will also give you a free museum visit valid for two months.
