Arts feature
The story of the first painting to sell for over a million pounds
Nothing could have prepared the art world for the astounding moment in 1970 when, at a Christie’s sale on 27…
No one in the Bible has been as elaborately misrepresented as Mary Magdalene
A bogus history book and a new oratorio turn Mary Magdalene into the wife of Jesus and a human rights activist. Damian Thompson feels sorry for the poor woman
Sylvie Guillem interview: ‘A lot of people hate me. Bon. You can’t please everybody’
On the eve of her retirement, Sylvie Guillem talks to Ismene Brown about legs, boobs and changing people’s lives
How Londoners can reclaim the River Thames
The current redevelopment of the city’s riverside is a lost opportunity to reclaim the Thames for Londoners, says Ellis Woodman
The pop artist whose transgressions went too far – for the PC art world
After years of being effectively banned from exhibiting in his own country, Allen Jones finally reaches the RA with his first major UK retrospective. Andrew Lambirth meets him
Rembrandt at the National Gallery: the greatest show on earth
Martin Gayford sees Rembrandt’s late works at the National Gallery – is this the greatest show on earth?
Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrin: ‘The KGB put a microphone in our marriage bed’
Ismene Brown talks to the Russian super-couple Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrin about ballet, opera and the KGB
Frieze Art Fair: where great refinement meets harrowing vulgarity
If you wanted to find a middle-aged man in a bright orange suit, matching tie and sneakers, Frieze is a…
Mike Leigh interview: ‘A guy in the Guardian wants to sue me for defamation of Ruskin!’
Hermione Eyre talks to filmmaker Mike Leigh about Mr Turner, Hollywood, and making films his own way
Without sci-fi, there would be no cinema
Without sci-fi, there would be no cinema, writes Peter Hoskin
The images from the Apollo missions will reduce you to tears
Mark Mason on the images that make grown men cry
My Schubert marathon
Just how much fun is it listening to all 650 of Schubert’s songs, asks Damian Thompson
Is John Hoyland the new Turner?
What happens to an artist’s reputation when he dies? Traditionally, there was a period of cooling off when the reputation,…
'I like vanished things': Anselm Kiefer on art, alchemy and his childhood
Martin Gayford talks to a surprisingly jolly Anselm Kiefer about art and metamorphosis
Michelangelo’s vision was greater even than Shakespeare’s
Alasdair Palmer reveals the monstrous egomaniac behind Michelangelo’s artistic genius
How independence will impoverish Scottish culture
Daniel Jackson foresees an impoverished cultural landscape for an independentScotland, with artists forced to do Salmond’s bidding
Pizza, choc-ice and Leonardos – the treasures of Turin
Laura Gascoigne enjoys a grand tour of Italy’s former capital city
The enigma of Werner Herzog
William Cook watches a new box set from the BFI that reveals the full extent of the German director’s genius – and insanity
Alex Salmond has already lost — if the Edinburgh Festival is anything to go by
Lloyd Evans tours the Edinburgh Festival in search of clues about the outcome of the referendum
My addiction to the bullet train
Stephen Bayley explains why he has become addicted to Japan’s Shinkansen
'They took me in like I was their son': Wynton Marsalis on jazz's great tradition
Martin Gayford talks to Wynton Marsalis about the rigours of playing jazz
Home Front: Radio 4's first world war drama will fight out the full four years
Kate Chisholm on the BBC’s ambitious new radio series
I think I’ve found the new Maria Callas
Some of my most enjoyable evenings, when I reviewed opera weekly for The Spectator, were spent at the Royal College…
How conductors keep getting better at 90
Matthew Stadlen talks to three conductors about growing old very gracefully
