Sitting pretty: the world’s best museum benches
Whether it’s a plush sofa or a severe slab of wood, the choices museums make about seating matter much more than we think
A brief history of Apollo’s cameo appearances
A personal tally of finding the magazine’s readers in films, television and fiction – and among the Rolling Stones
The fine art of magazine advertising
A look back at Apollo’s commercial pages through the decades reveals shifts in consumer tastes – as well as some distinctly quirky offerings
How Robert Adam brought Diocletian’s palace to the Thames
This magazine’s first home, the Adelphi was both a neoclassical triumph and a financial disaster for ‘Bob the Roman’
The studied elegance of Antoine Watteau
The artist left behind thousands of drawings when he died at the age of 37, and some of the loveliest examples can be seen at the British Museum
Four things to see: Celestial observation
As the Royal Observatory in Greenwich celebrates its 350th anniversary, we look at four artworks that embody our age-old fascination with the heavens
John Piper’s passion for tradition
In his designs for stained glass the artist found his perfect medium, taking a modern approach to an age-old form
Can art survive the AI juggernaut?
In this stylish polemic, the artist Hito Steyerl casts AI image-making as bland at best and exploitative at worst
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Contemporary art gets a glorious new home at Goodwood
The Duke of Richmond has been filling the grounds of his Sussex estate with sculpture, and the results are a breath of fresh air
Please remain seated for Père La Chaise
A French furniture-forger has been convicted for his role in a major scam, but there’s no denying that he has an excellent nickname
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In the studio with… Helene Appel
The artist works in near silence on her hyperreal paintings in her Berlin studio, which she keeps as empty as possible
In the studio with… Tara Donovan
The sculptor prefers not to have visitors in her sunlit studio in Brooklyn, where she tests materials and rereads books that have influenced her
June 2025
Apollo celebrates its centenary
Up and away: the art of the Ascension
Ruth Asawa: wired for art
Has the QR code had its day?
Plus: the artists who have bared all, the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at the Met, Gertrude Stein’s museum of modern art, Elizabeth I’s favourite kitchen utensil, how Jenny Saville turns paint into flesh, and a preview of Treasure House Fair; in reviews: Hiroshige in London, Frida Kahlo and Mary Reynolds in Chicago, and art versus AI
Four things to see: The expressive body
Painters have long distorted the human body to convey the anguish, confusion and melancholy that can lie beneath the skin
‘A revolutionary flame burned bright within him’: David Bindman (1940–2025)
The historian of 18th- and early 19th-century art combined a deep love of objects with an equally deep love of ideas
How Kaari Upson turned her world upside down
In her inventive works, the late American artist sought to blur the boundaries between herself and her characters, both real and imagined
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The Scottish painters who looked on the bright side
The four Scottish Colourists brought a much-needed verve to British art, although their avant-garde credentials can be overstated
The UAE’s art market is on the up
With a slew of new projects and major government investment, the Emirati art scene is having a moment. This time, it looks set to last
Elizabeth I’s favourite kitchen utensil
The Virgin Queen was not known for her cookery skills, so why was she often painted holding a sieve?
Acquisitions of the month: May 2025
Chardin’s luscious still life of fruit and Guercino’s commanding King David are among last month’s most significant museum acquisitions
‘Real life’s actually more interesting than fiction’: an interview with Caroline Walker
As her largest museum show to date opens, the Scottish artist talks to Samuel Reilly about her tender paintings of women at work
A novel look at Mantegna in Mantua
Inger Christensen’s reissued take on the artist’s time at the Gonzaga court is as experimental as his work would have seemed to contemporaries
Salzburg, a city alive with the Sound of Music
Sixty years after the film’s release, locals are still surprised by visitors re-enacting a few of their favourite things
Poetic justice for the Parthenon Marbles
In her book, ‘Frieze Frame’, A.E. Stallings collects the responses of poets and artists to the marbles since the early 19th century. She tells Apollo why they now deserve a new lease of cultural life
Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs draws on its considerable holdings to demonstrate why the couturier was known as ‘Le magnifique’
Kiefer/Van Gogh
Van Gogh’s compositional style and intensity of vision were a formative influence on Anselm Kiefer, as this show at the Royal Academy makes clear
Cézanne at Jas de Bouffan
The Post-Impressionist’s home in Aix-en-Provence is the subject of this exhibition at the Musée Granet
Amy Sillman: Alternate Side (Permutations #1–32)
The artist transforms the ground-floor of Dia Bridgehampton with prints and hand-painted designs that blend figuration and abstraction
Apollo at 100
As the magazine marks its centenary, its belief in being curious about both the past and present – and in the power of art – is more important than ever