Our top international art picks this week: queueing up for a first-class Arab cultural festival and more

Plus: An exhibition discusses Sigmund Freud’s talking cure and learn about Egypt's wondrous Middle Kingdom.

Activist and writer of feminist fiction, Nawal El Saadawi will appear at the Nour Festival. Marina Helli / AFP

An exhibition discusses Freud’s talking cure

So this is the Strong Sex: Women in Psychoanalysis has just opened at the Sigmund Freud Museum, which is housed in his office and apartment, in Vienna. As well as highlighting the influence that Freud's female patients and colleagues had on his work, the exhibition also explores women's contribution to the field of study. The author who helped Freud to escape Nazi Germany, Marie Bonaparte; his colleague Helene Deutsch; one of his best-known patients, Emma Eckstein; and his wife, Anna, are among those featured who helped to develop the "talking cure". The exhibition runs until June 12. Visit www.freud-museum.at.

Learn about Egypt’s wondrous Middle Kingdom

Eschewing crowd-pleasing sarcophagi and the pyramids, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has assembled some 230 objects from more than 30 international collections to tell the story of Egypt's Middle Kingdom. The reunification of ancient Egypt by Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom, kickstarted a cultural and political golden age. Objects in the exhibition range from monumental stone statues to delicate gold jewellery, all illustrating 400 years of fascinating Egyptian history. Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom runs until January 24. To find out more, visit www.metmuseum.org.

Queue up for a first-class Arab cultural festival

The Nour Festival of Arts will welcome a rather starry guest-list to venues across London's borough of Kensington and Chelsea from Tuesday until November 8. Encompassing music, film, food, exhibitions, talks and dance, highlights include: the 83 year-old Egyptian feminist and novelist Nawal El Sadaawi, in conversation with Shereen El Feki, author of Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World; and an exhibition of portraits by Saudi photographer Adel Quraishi, who was commissioned to capture the eight remaining "Guardians" of the keys to the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. To find out more about the festival's wide-ranging programme, visit www.rbkc.gov.uk.