Our top international events this week: how Berlin inspired a new art movement and more

Plus: find out about Napoleon's friendship with Tsar Alexander of Russia and a Brazilian master painter gets recognition in his home country.

Rainer Fetting’s ‘First Painting of the Wall’ is on display at The 80s: Figurative Painting in West Germany exhibition. Artothek

Landscapes from a Brazilian master

The Brazilian artist Alberto da Veiga Guignard was one of the country's most talented painters. He produced portraits and still-lifes but is renowned for landscape paintings from the state of Minas Gerais, where he lived from the 1940s. This exhibition in São Paulo features about 80 works from Guignard, along with pieces by his contemporaries. Guignard has an impressive reputation at auction, but less so in his native country when compared with others – something this retrospective seeks to address. Guignard: The Visual Memory of Modern Brazil runs at the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art until September 11. For more information visit www.mam.org.br.

Napoleon, Joséphine and their friend, the Tsar

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo – the decisive battle that sent Napoleon into permanent exile. But it is the period before this conflict that is the subject of an exhibition in The Netherlands, which looks at the life of the French emperor, the role of his wife, Joséphine, and also their relationship with his friend and rival Tsar Alexander I of Russia. It also examines their influence on Europe and more than 200 paintings, gowns, uniforms, sculptures and personal artefacts are on display. Alexander, Napoleon & Joséphine, a Story of Friendship, War and Art from the Hermitage runs in Amsterdam until November 8. For more information visit www.hermitage.nl.

How young artists transformed Berlin’s scene

At the start of the 1980s, a new approach to figurative painting emerged in West Germany. Young artists began to examine the painting tradition, the post-war avant garde and the art scene itself in a deliberately disconcerting way. Ninety works by 27 artists from this movement are now on display in Frankfurt and themes addressed include the liberalism of Berlin compared with the conservative West German states; the developing musical scene through the rise of New Wave and punk; and political ambiguity. The 80s: Figurative Painting in West Germany runs at the Städel Museum until October 18. for more information visit www.staedelmuseum.de.