Reviews

Madonna at the Fountain (detail; 1439), Jan van Eyck.

Van Eyck does the best he can in Vienna

A focused display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum brings the painter’s ingenuity to the fore

28 Aug 2019
War (detail; 2003), Paula Rego.

Paula Rego pictures a world of pain

A survey of the artist takes us to a land of sinister magic not so different to our own

26 Aug 2019
Weeping Crabapple (2009), Helen Frankenthaler.

How Helen Frankenthaler made her mark on the world of printmaking

An initiative spearheaded by the artist’s foundation is spreading her passion for prints across the US

21 Aug 2019
Nous deux (1972), Huguette Caland.

Curve sketching – the sensuous lines of Huguette Caland

Relationships between bodies – filial, friendly or romantic – are at the heart of the Lebanese artist’s paintings and drawings

20 Aug 2019
Blown Away contestant Leah Kudel at work.

Does glassmaking make good television? ‘Blown Away’, reviewed

A new series makes the most of the spectacle that is glass-blowing in action – and adds a competitive element

16 Aug 2019
Sigmund Freud’s reproduction print of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ Oedipus and the Sphinx by Ingres (1808).

Mummy issues – how ancient Egypt shaped Sigmund Freud

The land of the pharaohs loomed large in the imagination of the father of psychoanalysis

13 Aug 2019
Night House with Lit Window (2012), Lois Dodd.

Out of the ordinary – Lois Dodd’s keen eye for the everyday

From seaside Maine to the streets of Manhattan, Dodd’s paintings depict the world around her

7 Aug 2019
The Two Travellers (1942; detail), Jack B. Yeats.

An unlikely couple? Lucian Freud and Jack B. Yeats, reviewed

It may sound like an implausible pairing – but this exhibition on the two painters succeeds by not making forced connections

6 Aug 2019
Panel showing the soldier martyrs Basiliskos and Priskos in the Rotunda (Church of St George), Thessaloniki, built between 305-11; mosaics from the 5th or 6th century.

Heavenly bodies – a monumental study of an early Byzantine masterpiece

The mosaics of the Rotunda at Thessaloniki can be seen more clearly than ever before in this essential book about the building

6 Aug 2019
Installation view of ‘Jacqueline Humphries’ at the Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton, New York. On the right hangs Painting (2019).

Seeing is not believing in the art of Jacqueline Humphries

The artist’s mysterious glowing sculptures invite viewers to wonder what they actually are

1 Aug 2019
Your uncertain shadow (colour) (2010), Olafur Eliasson. Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection, Vienna.

Fog, lights and Lego – Olafur Eliasson at Tate Modern, reviewed

The artist and climate activist’s installations have changed our perceptions of what art can be

1 Aug 2019
Still Life (Natura Morta) (1949), Giorgio Morandi.

How Morandi made the Old Masters modern

The reclusive painter rarely left Bologna – but he pored over pictures of faraway masterpieces in books and journals

29 Jul 2019

Face masks – the enigmatic art of Helene Schjerfbeck

The first UK show dedicated to the Finnish painter reveals an artist fascinated with questions of image and identity

25 Jul 2019
Moret, Winter (1895), Maurice Cullen.

French Canadians – how Impressionism caught on in the Great White North

This welcome survey of Canadian artists shows how the quintessentially Parisian style was imported and reimagined

25 Jul 2019
Krishna and Radha walking by the Jumna by moonlight having exchanged clothes (detail; c. 1820), Kangra. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Artists anonymous – what does it mean for a work’s maker to be unknown?

A group of objects by unknown artists from around the world and across the centuries makes for a catalogue of human ingenuity

24 Jul 2019
Southend Pier (c. 1882–84), James McNeill Whistler. Freer Gallery of Art

When Whistler discovered watercolour

Financial troubles drove the artist to the medium – but its atmospheric possibilities suited him well

23 Jul 2019
Igor Stravinsky and Mstislav Rostropovich (c. 1959) and (late 1960s), Milein Cosman. Royal College of Music, London Photos: Justin Piperger; © Milein Cosman

The unsung art of Milein Cosman

Cosman was a fine portraitist who captured the leading cultural figures of her time

22 Jul 2019
Keith Haring with one of his drawing series, photographed in January 1982 by Joseph Szkodzinski.

Street-smart – how Keith Haring took art out of the gallery

From subway drawings to T-shirt designs, the artist was determined to make his work accessible to all

19 Jul 2019
Set design for the backcloth in the final scene of The Firebird (1954), Natalia Goncharova. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

‘Russian to a T’ – Natalia Goncharova at Tate Modern, reviewed

Avant-garde as she was, the artist was also deeply influenced by Russian folk traditions and history

17 Jul 2019
Untitled (Candida) (1965), David Smith. Installation view at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2019.

‘Drawing in space’ – the ingenious structures of David Smith

The AbEx sculptor found endless possibilities in the welding and painting of steel

17 Jul 2019
Precarity (2017) (still), John Akomfrah, Courtesy Lisson Gallery; © Smoking Dogs Films

A haunting resurrection of the man who invented jazz

New Orleans bandleader Charles ‘Buddy’ Bolden cuts an enigmatic figure in John Akomfrah’s elegiac film

16 Jul 2019
Elements, Ignis’ (c. 1575/80), Joris Hoefnagel. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Meet the beetles! The insect drawings of Joris Hoefnagel

The Dutch polymath’s lifelike drawings are masterpieces of wit and invention

15 Jul 2019
The fetus in the womb (detail; c. 1511), Leonardo da Vinci.

‘Rich insights into a restless mind’ – Leonardo’s drawings at the Queen’s Gallery

Leonardo’s art may be universal, but his notes and sketches also reveal a man firmly rooted in his age

12 Jul 2019
GRIMA – Self with Cat (The Scream) (1986), Annegret Soltau.

From Dickens to Dada – a marvellous mishmash of collage across time

The first show ever to focus on the art of cutting and pasting offers an impressively expansive view of the practice

11 Jul 2019