Apollo

Madonna keeps her feet firmly off the ground

Clues to the popstar’s creative process can be found on her coffee table – in a book of illustrations by John Willie, foot-fetishist extraordinaire

When outsider art entered the mainstream

Sculpture of a woman lying down wearing a red dress and hat

A string of recent exhibitions have done much to raise the profile of so-called outsider artists

Lights, camera, exhibition – see Vermeer on the big screen

The Rijksmuseum’s blockbuster has been recorded for posterity, but can a film really do the paintings justice?

A sculpture given to Captain Cook returns to Tahiti

The figures brought over in 1771 are the first documented works of Oceanic art – and now on display where they were made

Inside a very forward-looking home in Rome

Interiors of Casa Balla in Rome

At Casa Balla, Futurism was definitely a family affair for Giacomo Balla and his daughters Lucia and Elice

The Met simplifies Cecily Brown

Linking the painter’s work directly to its source material downplays what makes it really interesting

Classical African sculpture keeps moving with the times

Provenance is more crucial than ever but the market for masterpieces is now broader than ever

Around the galleries – the Armory Show is still a force to be reckoned with

At a time when art fairs around the world are scaling back, the New York mainstay is still thinking big

The Parrish Art Museum is courting the real Hamptons crowd

On the institution’s 125th anniversary, its director Mónica Ramírez-Montagut wants to serve a wider audience and make stronger connections with the local community

Saint Francis, pure and simple

The saint may have lived a life of poverty, but this richly varied exhibition is anything but impoverished

The unwavering art of Ellsworth Kelly

On the centenary of the artist’s birth, it is easier to see that beneath the impersonal surfaces his work is teeming with life

The true test of a building is the passing of time

At RIBA a film by Jim Stephenson shows that architecture can have a long and unpredictable afterlife

Indiana Jones defies (the UNESCO) convention

Real archaeologists are probably right to regard their famous fictional colleague as a renegade, but he’s a useful reminder of what not to do on a dig

France passes law allowing museums to return Nazi-looted art

Plus: French artist Claude Lévêque is charged with rape and the Hermitage Amsterdam is changing its name

Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery

Everyday dress from Gaza or Hebron (detail; 1935–40). Courtesy the Palestinian Museum; photo: Kayané Antreassian

Kettle’s Yard explores the historical life and contemporary significance of this rich tradition

Eva Fàbregas: Devouring Lovers

Growths (detail; 2022), Eva Fàbregas. Photo: Amande Dionne

The Spanish artist fills the Hamburger Bahnhof with her fleshy sculptural forms

Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit

An impressive collection of works on paper drawn from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collections explores humankind’s relationship to nature

Clouds and Light: Impressionism in Holland

The Museum Barberini in Potsdam considers how 19th-century Dutch painters took cues from techniques being developed in France

Acquisitions of the Month: June 2023

A rare 17th-century portrait of a Black woman and a white woman and an illustrated Armenian manuscript are among this month’s highlights

Four things to see: Pride

How artists have depicted homosexuality at various points in history

Gwen John bares it all at Pallant House

The artist’s remarkable paintings of women are also a form of self-exposure

Body politics – an interview with Florence Peake

The performance artist uses paint, props and a nude cast of actors to make her point

Glasgow’s cuts will hamper its museums for years to come

The axeing of 37 museum posts will force overstretched employees to work harder and make institutions shelve their grander plans

Will replicas tempt museums to return looted objects more quickly?

The Chrysler Museum of Art has given a looted monolith back to Nigeria and received a facsimile in exchange. Will other institutions follow suit?