It’s week nine of the Cultural Capitals programme at Four Seasons, and nine European properties are shining new light on the region’s masterpieces. From the righteously representational to the unashamedly abstract, the Hotels are offering artistic adventures this spring, crammed with more colour than Matisse’s palette.

Guests drawn to art’s edgier side need look no further than
Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf and its private behind-the-scenes tour of East London’s coolest galleries and studio collectives. As part of its Gen Y Package, the Hotel can arrange tailor-made tours for teenagers led by Urban Gentry guides under the age of 23, where they will check out up-and-coming artists, local gigs and vintage fashions. The Hotel will even provide a Flip Video camcorder for the day so that budding artists can upload their videos directly to YouTube or Facebook ... which also offers teens the chance to win a complimentary return stay through the Hotel’s “Best Teen Video of the Year” competition. Who says art doesn’t pay?

From the warehouses of London’s East End to the woodland of Florence’s largest private garden ... Between March and September, Ugo Riva’s magnificent sculptures will transform Four Seasons Hotel Firenze’s 4.5-hectare (11-acre) Giardino della Gherardesca into the city’s pre-eminent open-air museum. Imagine finely draped Madonnas amongst the copses and classically inspired bronzes resting idly in the meadow. After an inspiring few hours amid the plants and pieces, guests can take a leisurely stroll into Florence – a city packed with more artistic treasures per square metre than any other in the world.

Guests of Four Seasons Hotel Dublin can take a professional art tour this spring without even removing their slippers. After wandering the Hotel’s corridors with a professional guide – and pondering the meaning of works by Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Barrie Cooke and Sean Scully, among others – they can join the same guide for a private tour of Dublin’s National Gallery and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, or drop into the Apollo Gallery to view the creative Gaelic hues of Irish and Ireland-based artists (slippers optional).

For a master class in Hungarian holidaying, head to Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest for an artistic adventure with an edge. Start amongst the Hotel’s Art Nouveau architecture and contemporary Hungarian paintings, then step out into a private tour that mixes quirky ateliers and antique-packed salons with the swirl of Szentendre’s bohemian backstreets and a peep at the Art Factory’s young masters of tomorrow.

Last but not least, discover the refined yet relaxed elegance of the galleries scattered amongst the sloping vineyards around
Four Seasons Resort Provence at Terre Blanche. Wander through modern displays under the shade of the trees at Fayence’s ARTPAK (April 2 to 5) or tour the eclectic exhibition spaces of The Orange Tree Galerie and the surreal sculpture garden of Jas de la Rimade. For an off-the-beaten-track insight into the lives of some of the region’s most colourful characters, ask the Hotel’s Concierge to arrange a private visit to the workshop of one of three local artists – Fortune Evangeliste, Nicola Rosini (whose sculptures can be seen in Monaco’s Opera Gallery) or Anne-Marie Lorin (whose paintings can be seen in the Hotel).

Whatever your artistic disposition, visit Four Seasons Magazine online this spring to create the picture-perfect European break.