Apollo

In the studio with… Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George, photographed at their home (and studio) in London, 2021.

The duo’s east London studio is, they say, the world’s cleanest, so that they can be as dirty as they want in their art

What not to miss at TEFAF Online

Wine cooler and stand (one of a pair) (1809), Paul Storr. Koopman Rare Art (in the region of £400,000 for the pair)

For its second online edition, the fair is doubly determined to catch the eye of collectors with museum-quality masterpieces

What we say when we say it with flowers

Jeff Koons’ ‘Bouquet of Tulips’ displayed next to the Grand Palais in Paris in 2019.

Artists and writers have always been fascinated by flowers – and we all like receiving them – but some floral arrangements are more sinister than others

Parcours des Mondes snaps into action in Paris

Shamanic transformation mask, late 19th century, Yup’ik Eskimo, Alaska. Galerie Flak (€75,000)

The annual event for dealers of art from around the globe celebrates its 20th anniversary on the Left Bank

The failed Italian revolutionary who dedicated himself to Asian art

Henri Cernuschi photographed in 1876 by Count Stanislaw Julian Ostrorog (‘Walery’).

After his failure in politics, Henri Cernuschi succeeded in finance – and left an outstanding collection of Asian art to his adoptive city of Paris

Art Basel seeks to reassure nervous exhibitors ahead of fair

Photo: © Art Basel

Plus: MOCA LA names its first executive director, the Robert E. Lee statue can be removed from Richmond, and more stories

Botticelli: Artist and Designer

The Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris explores how the painter took Renaissance Florence by storm

Lines of Beauty: Master Drawings from Chatsworth

Venus scolding Cupid, while an older cupid binds him to a tree (detail; 17th century), Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called il Guercino.

Works on paper by Poussin, Rembrandt and other Old Masters go on display at the Lightbox

Johannes Vermeer: On Reflection

Girl Reading a Letter at the Open Window (detail; 1657–59), Johannes Vermeer.

A painted-over image of Cupid was found hidden in one of Vermeer’s greatest works. Now the restored canvas goes back on view in Dresden

The artists who have turned to coffee for their creative fuel

I Love You a Latte (2021), Jemima Sara

Making coffee might be considered an art form – but don’t forget the artistic possibilities offered by the substance itself

Mixing It Up: Painting Today

Bira (detail; 2019), Kudzanai-Violet Hwami.

At the Hayward Gallery, 31 painters working in the UK today show off a range of approaches to the medium

Drinking wine in ancient Greece was a divine but demanding business

Installation view of ‘Drinking with the Gods’, Cité du Vin, Bordeaux, 2021.

The gods were great sticklers for ceremony and frowned on oenophiles who didn’t observe the rules

Venice’s crumbling palazzos are crying out for more buyers like Anish Kapoor

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The dilapidated facade of Palazzo Priuli Manfrin, Venice, photographed in 2015.

The artist plans to turn a dilapidated palace into a lively new cultural venue – and the city needs others to follow his example

The visionary artist who saw into the mind of John Soane

A Bird’s-eye view of the Bank of England (1830), Joseph Gandy. Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

Joseph Gandy’s dramatic paintings turned John Soane’s neoclassical designs into full-blown Romantic fantasies

Dust jackets and dinner jackets – the man who illustrated Bond

Richard Chopping’s covers for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963) and Goldfinger (1959) by Ian Fleming.

Richard Chopping’s striking designs for Ian Fleming’s novels add greatly to the books’ allure for collectors – but his artistic talent went far beyond Bond

Does the art world have a sense of humour?

Illustration: David Biskup

Susan Moore and Niru Ratman wonder if anyone is still enjoying themselves

Boundary issues – the uneasy art of Chuck Close

Big Self-Portrait (detail; 1967–68), Chuck Close.

It was always a mistake to take the painter’s portraits at face value, writes Nancy Princenthal – and we shouldn’t have any illusions about the man either

In the studio with… Kaye Donachie

Kaye Donachie in her London studio

The painter prefers her studio to be tidy, but it doesn’t stay that way for long – and she’s completely oblivious to the smell of turpentine and oil paint

The shady affair of the Tiffany-blue Basquiat

Jay-Z and Beyoncé pose with Basquiat’s ‘Equals Pi’ (1982) in Tiffany’s ‘About Love’ campaign.

Now that the jeweller has found a painting in just the right shade of its corporate colours, can other brands be far behind?

The goofy and garish Victorian pottery that was a very serious business

Game pie dish (shape no. 1990) made in 1876.

Mass-produced majolica has often been sneered at – but its exuberance is what makes it so appealing

The week in art news – fears grow for the safety of cultural workers in Afghanistan

The National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, photographed in 2012.

Plus: Amsterdam is to return a Kandinsky to the heirs of its former owner

Afterlives: Recovering Lost Stories of Looted Jewish Art

Landscape (detail; 1912), Max Pechstein.

Retracing the movements of Nazi-looted artworks at the Jewish Museum in New York

Spain, 1000–1200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith

Detail of the camel from the Church of San Baudelio de Berlanga (first half 12th century; possibly 1129–34), made in Castile-León, Spain.

The Met Cloisters explores how artists in medieval Spain navigated the influences of both Christianity and Islam

Jack B. Yeats: Painting and Memory

Pilot Sligo River (1921), Jack B. Yeats.

The National Gallery of Ireland hosts a career-spanning survey to mark the 150th anniversary of the painter’s birth