Turner and the Sea. The two go together so well, it is almost impossible to imagine that this collection of magnificent works at the Greenwich National Maritime Museum (until 21 April) is the first time there has been a survey of the subject. In fact, somewhere between half and two thirds of Turner’s enormous output…
The Chapman brothers crucify Ronald MacDonald in their latest show, Come and See. Literally. And dozens of times over. Taking their title from a movie about the horrors of World War 2, these irreverent artists bring war right into our daily existence. They merge a fast-food culture with the grimmest scenes of human suffering since…
The Tate Britain has been hiding behind hoardings for some three years now, and it was with something akin to relief that they could now reopen with a fully functioning museum. Building works are always tedious, and never more so in a public space when suddenly the café has moved, the toilets don’t work or…
The Nose. It must be the most unromantic title for an opera, or a story for that matter, because Shostakovich’s opera started out as a short story by Gogol. It’s an unromantic opera. But it’s clever and crazy and utterly zany. This Russian classic is essentially the magic of making comedy out of absolutely nothing.…
Paul Klee famously took ‘a line for a walk’ with his drawing, and opened up the world of art to every primary school pupil. His work is hugely popular, probably because it appeals to so many different tastes. There are the deceptively simple pure watercolour washes, with an incredible harmony of colour, and the bold…
“Make sure you don’t miss this one,” said a Chinese friend who has spent decades studying art both in the East and the West. She was talking about the V&A’s Masterpieces of Chinese Painting 700 – 1900 (until 19 Jan 2014). “It’s like seeing room after roomful of Mona Lisas.” What she didn’t explain was…
Pop Art epitomises all the glamour and confidence of a prosperous America. The colours are loud and brash, the statements playful and the spirit happy. So much of it is infused into our daily life, that we now don’t even notice it as a thing apart. The Barbican’s Pop Art Design (until 9 Feb) highlights…
Iconoclasm is an interesting subject in the history of British art. We’ve all wandered through churchyards and seen a statue with its nose or limbs hacked off, and perhaps even wondered at who this person was who sought to disfigure a work of art in this way. There’s so much drama and passion in this…
Pushkin’s famous novel was translated by Tchaikovsky into soaring emotions in his opera Eugene Onegin, and this production in the hands of Russian conductor Valery Gergiev and Russian soprano Anna Netrebko is pure magic. Netrebko’s letter scene in Scene 2 alone is worth the price of the admission, as the young Tatiana pours out the…
Forget Klimt’s lavish gold paintings, and think rather of Freud, neurosis and hysteria. That is what Vienna at the turn of the century reflected. In fact, as National Gallery director, Dr Nicholas Penny joked at the press opening of Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900 (until 12 Jan 2014), there have seldom been…
London Letter 