This year the ninth annual Edinburgh Art Festival prepares to outshine itself with major exhibitions by leading international artists including Dieter Roth at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Philip Guston at Inverleith House, Tim Rollins & K.O.S. and Donald Judd at Talbot Rice Gallery, Melvin Moti at National Museum of Scotland, Rachel Mayeri at Edinburgh College of Art and Carolee Schneemann, Robert Kuśmirowski, Wolf Vostell and David Michalek at new EAF venue Summerhall.

The 'Festival Promenade’ will be a series of new publicly-sited commissions across Edinburgh by Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz, Callum Innes, Andrew Miller, Emily Speed, Kevin Harman, The House of Fairy Tales (Deborah Curtis and Gavin Turk) and Anthony Schrag

This Summer's blockbusters at Edinburgh’s leading visual art venues including ‘Picasso and Modern British Art’ at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, ‘Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscapes in Europe 1880-1910’ at Scottish National Gallery and ‘Catherine the Great: An Enlightened Empress’ at National Museum of Scotland. Solo retrospectives of critically acclaimed UK and Scottish artists including Ian Hamilton Finlay at Ingleby Gallery, Leslie Hunter at City Art Centre, Jock McFadyen at Bourne Fine Art and John Bellany at Open Eye Gallery

A major exhibition of rarely-seen tapestries charting the history of Dovecot Studios in their centenary year, including works by David Hockney, Paul Gauguin, Eduardo Paolozzi and Claire Barclay The best early career artists including artist collective ~ in the fields at New Media Scotland and group exhibitions at Rhubaba Gallery and Studios, GARAGE, Superclub and Contemporary Art Exchange, and the first solo exhibition of paintings by comedian Harry Hill

“The 2012 Edinburgh Art Festival programme continues to make visual art central to the Edinburgh summer festival experience, with an unparalleled offering of major solo exhibitions by leading international artists and the opportunity to see some of the city’s most exciting new spaces dedicated to emerging talent. This year’s commissions programme - our most ambitious to date - brings new work by the very best Scottish artists, from internationally established names to recent graduates, into public spaces across the city, in an extended ‘Festival Promenade’ that will invite visitors to look anew at Edinburgh’s world famous heritage site.” - Sorcha Carey, Director, Edinburgh Art Festival:

EDINBURGH ART FESTIVAL OPENS THURSDAY 2 AUGUST 2012

Photo: Susan Philipsz at Old Calton Cemetery, Edinburgh, courtesy of Stuart Armitt