Artemisia
National Gallery, London
3 October–24 January 2021
This display under Letizia Treves’s expert curation gathered 30 works firmly attributed to Gentileschi and set them amid compelling biographical material. The drama of her life story, this display demonstrated, is exceeded only by the drama in her paintings.
Leonardo da Vinci
Musée du Louvre, Paris
24 October 2019–24 February
Based on more than 10 years of research and conservation, this exhibition focused on five key Leonardo works in the Louvre’s collection. The use of technology such as VR was especially apt, complementing the genius of this great scientist and inventor.
Pieter de Hooch in Delft: From the Shadow of Vermeer
Museum Prinsenhof, Delft
11 October 2019–16 February
This was the first retrospective in the Netherlands dedicated to De Hooch, whose courtyard scenes influenced Vermeer and who in the 18th and early 19th centuries was better known than the celebrated Golden Age painter.
Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
30 January–26 October
Significant loans from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Niger explored the trade networks and rich artistic traditions of the historic empires making up the western Sahel – as well as crucial developments such as the arrival of Islam.
Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution
Museum of Fine Arts (MSK), Ghent
1 February–30 April
This exhibition was centred around the recently cleaned exterior panels of the Ghent Altarpiece, and offered a rare opportunity to see these works up close, at eye level. Rare, too, was the chance to compare in the flesh so many works by the Flemish master, many of which had been conserved in advance of the exhibition.
Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925–1945
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
17 February–31 January 2021
Featuring nearly 200 works, this ambitious exhibition revealed the inspiration American painters such as Jacob Lawrence and Jackson Pollock found in the art of the leading Mexican muralists.
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