When I was a teenager — jejune, pretentious, cocky — I wrote a poem about the impact on me of Tintoretto. I’d been to Venice and seen his thunderous masterpieces in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. For a few days it short-circuited my reason. Hence the poem. In almost any circumstance, I would be […]
Recent articles
David Hockney at 88 — he’s begun his last dance with the joy of a child
The most quoted remark by Picasso, his most telling quip, is: “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” It’s popular because it nails something tangible and crucial: the artistic joy that appears twice in a long creative life — at the beginning and at the […]
Why does death inspire so much art? It’s the killer question
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments given to him by God, two in particular would have interested any artists gathered in the waiting crowd. One is the Second Commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above […]
Instead of attacking the old masters, this exciting show has fun with them
Lisa Brice is no spring chicken. She’s 56. Yet only in the past few years has she managed to transform herself from “promising female painter with complex ideas about the role of women in art” to “ubiquitous art star”. These days you need a few million in the bank to buy a hefty Brice. What’s […]
The forty million dollar man who made painting fashionable again
Peter Doig. Whenever I see the name I hear the rustle of dollar bills and the jingle jangle of a big win on the slot machines. To my mind, Doig’s art — which fetches up to $40 million a painting — has become synonymous with fiscal success, and even interchangeable with it. However, his new […]
Gilbert & George? It’s like being stuck with a pub bore
Two veteran artistic presences have appeared in London simultaneously. Both have been around the block many times. One remains fresh, active, naughty. The other has grown tired, repetitive, boring. Let’s deal with the tedious one first. Let’s deal with Gilbert & George. In the Sixties, when they were in their twenties, the two Gs were messing […]
Kate Moss and Lucian Freud — the supermodel reveals her side of the story
Why do people make tremulous films about artists? It’s a question I was close to screaming when I exited James Lucas’s film of the brief encounter between the supermodel Kate Moss and the super-duper painter Lucian Freud in the coke-stoked naughty Noughties. Moss & Freud is well short of being the worst example of this failed […]
The truth about Lee Miller is darker than Tate Britain would have us believe
The first thing to say about Lee Miller at Tate Britain is that it is a marvellous exhibition, full of riveting photography and powerful moments. The second thing to say about it is that it is dense with sexual complications and psychological darknesses that are more problematic than the show wants to admit. It’s not a cover-up. […]
The Turner prize is the cockroach of art
However many times the Turner prize gets stamped on, however fiercely we wish to dispose of it, however bad it gets, it survives the hammering and comes back for more. It is the cockroach of art and its resilience over four testing decades is almost heroic. This year’s effort has travelled to Bradford, Britain’s City […]
Sex and the devil — this is the art they didn’t want you to see
A good thing to do when a new pope is elected is to visit the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome and see what they have done with Michelangelo’s Risen Christ. I haven’t been myself yet. It’s too early in the reign of Leo XIV to be certain where he stands on art. But […]