Features
Acquisitions of the Month: March 2023
A rare 17th-century gold ruby glass goblet and original designs by Augustus Pugin are among this month’s highlights
In Lausanne, a lively new museum district has finally arrived
The Plateforme 10 project has brought the city’s fine arts, design and photo museums together on the site of a former train yard
Supper in the City at the Barbican Brasserie
The arts centre’s new restaurant is not exactly a feast for the eyes, but the food more than makes up for it
James Joyce walks into a bar in Zurich
At the Kronenhalle in Zurich, the writer was most likely to ask for Fendant de Sion, a wine that deserves to be much better known abroad
Fine carpets from Asia are definitely back in fashion
After a spell in the doldrums, prices for magnificent carpets from across the continent are starting to soar again
The cosmic visions of Hilma af Klint
The Swedish artist is now fêted as a pioneer of abstract art, but her spiritual inclinations are what really resonate today
The Tower of Babel now owes more to Bruegel than the Bible
When we think of the biblical folly, it’s Pieter Breugel the Elder’s painting that first comes to mind – but artists and writers are still reimagining it today
The restless side of Felix Vallotton’s sleeping woman
At the MAH in Geneva, the artist Ugo Rondinone has rehung Le Sommeil to bring its livelier side to the fore, explains curator Samuel Gross
Smooth operator – the seductive sculptures of Antonio Canova
The sculptor was regarded as too sensual by classicists and too cold by Romantics, but a more superficial look at his work suggests what he was really up to
Alfred Russel Wallace’s botanical sketches are a natural wonder
The naturalist sketched his discoveries with unmatched dedication, but was unlucky to lose so many of the original specimens at sea
Acquisitions of the Month: February 2023
David Bowie’s archive and the first clutch of NFTs to be acquired by a French museum are among this month’s highlights
What the art world gets wrong about craft
The growing tendency to fold 20th-century makers into the history of modern art often ignores what was truly innovative about their work
How do you solve a problem like Picasso?
While the artist’s life can pose difficulties, the Musée Picasso in Paris is finding ways to open up his work for a new generation
The sensational collections of the Sassoon family
Long after David Sassoon’s descendants had entered the highest echelons of English society, their collecting reflected the family’s ties to the Middle East, India and China
How Barbara Hepworth got into a new groove
The Palais de Danse in St Ives allowed the sculptor’s work to grow in ambition
On its 300th birthday, the Belvedere reflects on a remarkably complicated past
Built as a residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Vienna museum with a tangled history is now a home for Old Masters and modern art
A Netherlandish Saint Luke dressed up to the nines
Stephan Kemperdick of Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie talks Apollo through Hugo van der Goes’s stylish depiction of the saint
The street dog that has found a home among some pedigree chums
A portrait of pooch at the Ashmolean can more than hold its own among more rarefied breeds
The Dutch painters who kept their eyes peeled for citrus fruit
The Low Countries may not grow oranges and lemons, but the artists of the region certainly had a zest for them
The Manchester Museum is put on community service
A £15 million renovation has provided a new gallery and additional exhibition space but the displays are less about the objects than the stories they tell
Between the vines – contemporary art at Spier Wine Farm
One of South Africa’s oldest wine estates has developed strong ties with the country’s leading artists
New wine in old bottles – contemporary art in historical settings
It has become increasingly common for museums to invite artists to respond to their collections, but what kind of connections are we being invited to make?
Are artists who work at museums too easy to exploit as workers?
The desirability of getting a day job in a museum can make it easy for prestigious institutions to take advantage of the artists who work in them
How did the great liberator of Venice end up in Ham House?
A portrait of the 17th-century polymath and intellectual superstar Paolo Sarpi hangs in a corner of a house that once belonged to a wealthy tyrant
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