Have you been observing Lent? Not eating meat or drinking alcohol, praying, giving alms, refraining from sex for 40 days? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I myself have failed in most of those ambitions, although I did at least find some old coins from the time when money was money to hand out to anyone I encountered […]
Recent articles
The forgotten female artist who towers over Rubens
Michaelina Wautier is not a name that trips off the tongue. It never has done. When she was alive (1604-89) her friends and family called her Michelle. Only in her art would she sign herself in a scratchy and effortful script the full “Michaelina Wautier”, sometimes adding, with evident pride, “painted and invented this”. In […]
Iran’s wonders survived the mullahs, now it’s the bombs …
Isfahan. It’s a name that ought to be on the lips of all who love art and poetry, fountains and gardens, sensuality and architecture. Instead it’s the newsreaders who have been repeating it in grim reports from the ruins of Iran. Bombs falling. Buildings burning. Targets missed. Palaces caught in the blasts. Neither Donald Trump […]
It’s the year of the horse — and here’s why we should thank George Stubbs
In the Chinese zodiac, it’s the year of the horse. And not just any horse. In a rare cosmological concurrence, it’s specifically the year of the fire horse, when all the usual horsey pluses — strength, speed, independence — are united with the best fiery powers — passion, volatility, change. Those of us fortunate enough […]
Love, sex, betrayal — Tracey Emin silences her detractors once and for all
I have no time for those in the art world who have no time for Tracey Emin. Frankly, if you don’t understand the significance and import of what she has given us then you need to find yourself another cultural interest, because art is not for you. Hopefully, her unmissable ascension at Tate Modern will […]
Rose Wylie’s unsettling show is a madcap torrent of granny art
Childishness can be a pleasing quality in art. From Michelangelo’s giggly portrayal of Boaz on the Sistine ceiling to Matisse’s nursery-coloured paper cut-outs, the sense of fun and freedom unleashed by acting younger than you are has given art many memorable moments. But childishness works best as an ingredient. When it is the only mood, […]
Tracey Emin: ‘I can hardly see colours. I’ve got cataracts’
Tracey Emin checks the front of her pyjamas, fixes the buttons and pulls the sheets up higher. She may be in bed, but these days decency is important. In 2024 the King made her a dame in his birthday honours list, and dames don’t flash their bazongas at just anyone. “I thought I was going […]
From Caravaggio to Bourgeois — here’s art for our age of chaos
Two shows. One big, one small. One in Amsterdam, one in London. Both concerned with the mad things you see when reality is pulled out of true, played with, distorted. A pair of shows, therefore, that feel very on message, given the present state of the world. The big show is at the Rijksmuseum in […]
Who fried their brains trying to make Lucian Freud sexy and original?
There are times — not often — when my heart goes out to curators and I feel the urge to hug them and tell them: “Never mind. You tried.” So it is with the creators of Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting at the National Portrait Gallery. You can tell from the title that it has been an […]
My eyes filled with tears at the life of this Siouxsie Sioux fangirl
Art is always personal. Someone else’s imagination is whispering to your imagination in a visual Esperanto. But Sue Webster’s artistic disrobing at Firstsite in Colchester is more than autobiography. It’s an exorcism; a life flashing by; an existence reset. The results are so moving, they filled my eyes with tears. Generationally Webster is a YBA: […]