Meet France’s self-appointed heritage sheriff
Didier Rykner is the tireless heritage campaigner with a talent for publicity who has become a thorn in the side of the French authorities
Is the Pope an art fan?
The Pontiff touched down in Venice this week, but God knows what he thought of the art on display at the Biennale’s Vatican pavilion
The photographs worth a thousand words, even if those words are by Annie Ernaux
Juxtaposing the Nobel Prize-winner’s writing with images of daily life shows that images can be read as well as looked at
Enter the void with Pierre Huyghe
An exhibition in Venice of the French artist’s work is conceptually dense, but does it work in visual terms?
Does this year’s Venice Biennale live up to the hype?
There are delightful discoveries to be made at this year’s event, but sometimes the central exhibition fizzles where it should spark
Beyond the Biennale – the shows to see around Venice this month
The rest of the city still has plenty to offer, from an exploration of the travels of Marco Polo to a celebration of Jean Cocteau’s genius
Must-see pavilions at the Venice Biennale 2024
From the recent history of Timor-Leste to world-building in Bulgaria, this year’s shows present a rich and varied cross-section of contemporary art from around the world
Court in the middle – the arts in France under Charles VII
In the first half of the 15th century, artists drew on the Northern and Italian Renaissances to create a distinctly French cultural flowering
The Georgian artist who was the voice of his generation
Karlo Kacharava was only 30 when he died in 1984. In Georgia, he is regarded as a one-man avant-garde and his work is now being acclaimed abroad
Advert
Frieze New York puts a premium on performance
This year’s laudably international line-up gives plenty of space to photography, performance and video
Getting back to basics with Enzo Mari
The Italian designer’s pared-back approach to craftsmanship always prized the practical over the pretty
Advert
In the studio with… Matthew Krishanu
The artist takes inspiration from Billie Holiday, El Greco and a pair of old Indian puppets when painting large-scale canvases in his East London studio
In the studio with… Ibrahim Mahama
When he’s not using stadiums to realise his visions, the artist welcomes all manner of visitors, from school kids to tuk-tuk drivers, in his studio-cum-gallery in northern Ghana
May 2024
• An interview with Alvaro Barrington
• The National Gallery in London at 200
• The sticky relationship between art and the oil industry
• How the Hirshhorn Museum keeps things fresh
Plus: the delicate art of Meissen, a bronze statue claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia, why art should be a multi-sensory pleasure, and a preview of TEFAF New York, and reviews of 15th-century French art in Paris, the Japan’s Arts and Crafts movement in London and Pierre Huyghe in Venice.
Why everyone loves Keith Haring
The pop artist believed that artists should make work for the masses. Decades after his death, his images are everywhere
Who will make a killing from Messi’s contract?
The maestro’s first contract with FC Barcelona, written on a napkin, has been withdrawn from auction after a dispute between his current and former agents
Georg Baselitz turns the world on its head
As the painter becomes older, the topsy-turvy figures that populate his invigorating canvases are becoming more skeletal
Advert
The real deal – Jacques Lacan and the art of psychoanalysis
Part biographical survey, part crash-course in Lacanian thought, an exhibition about the psychoanalyst’s links to art could do with a sharper focus
Licence to Rome – how the Dutch got a taste for the Italian capital
Maarten van Heemskerck’s expert renderings of Rome inspired his countrymen to see the city for themselves
‘The work of a lifetime’ – Interwar by Gavin Stamp, reviewed
The writer’s survey of interwar architecture is a monumental achievement that reminds us that modernism was only part of the 20th-century story
For Howard Hodgkin, collecting was as important as painting
The artist amassed one of the finest private collections of Indian court paintings, an activity that preoccupied him as much as making art
Fifty years on, this biopic of Edvard Munch deserves a new lease of life
Peter Watkins’ 1974 film is no ordinary portrait of the artist – and feels more current than ever as the art-historical canon is up for debate
The doctor who was devoted to Van Gogh
The painter’s final months in the care of Dr Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, a physician as interested in art as he was in medicine, were an extraordinarily productive period
How the Bauhaus exiles shaped a new urban landscape
The westward spread of modernist design between the wars was shaped by the migrant experience
Ana Lupas – On this Side of the River Elbe
The artist’s show in Amsterdam revolves around a textile-based installation inspired by her artist friends and her Romanian heritage
Four Chicago Artists: Theodore Halkin, Evelyn Statsinger, Barbara Rossi, and Christina Ramberg
The Art Institute of Chicago is paying tribute to four pioneering artists at the centre of the city’s booming post-war cultural scene
Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion
The Met is breathing new life into its costume collection through video, light projection, sound installations and artificial intelligence
The Shape of Things: Still Life in Britain
Once seen as the lowest genre of art, still lifes can be evocative, original and complex, suggests a new exhibition at Pallant House
Has the Fitzwilliam still got the hang of things?
Though some regard it as provocative, it’s fairer to say that the museum’s sprucing-up of its paintings galleries is thought-provoking