If London was “a great rumbling, rambling, heavy Epic,” wrote Charlotte Brontë, then Edinburgh was “a Lyric, brief, bright, clear, and vital as a flash of lightning.” The city-wide, month-long, mostly-free Edinburgh Arts Festival offers an abundance of lightning flashes, including a retrospective of Turner Prize-winner Grayson Perry, and exhibitions on Bridget Riley, Victoria Crowe, and many more. —J.V.

Travels to: “Bridget Riley,” Hayward Gallery, London (October 23, 2019 – Januarey 26, 2020).