Painting

The real Lucian Freud hated having his picture taken

26 October 2019 9:00 am

One of Lucian Freud’s firmly fixed views about himself was ‘I’m not at all introspective’. This was, like many opinions…

Why has figurative painting become fashionable again?

7 September 2019 9:00 am

The figure is back. Faces stare, bodies sprawl, fingers swipe, mums clutch, hands loll. The Venice Biennale was full of…

The stuff of nightmares: ‘The Five Firemen’, 1938, by Grace Pailthorpe

British surrealism at its most remarkable and nightmarish

1 June 2019 9:00 am

Holding the International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936 was a coup for the British avant-garde, putting newbie surrealists such…

‘The Fisherman’s Cottage’, 1906, by Harald Sohlberg

If you’re tired of hygge then you’ll like Harald Sohlberg

23 February 2019 9:00 am

If you’re tired of hygge then you’ll like Harald Sohlberg. The Norwegian painter  eschewed the cosy fireside for the great…

A letter from Vincent van Gogh to his younger brother Theo, dated 28 October 1883

‘Lock him in a motel & he’d do something astonishing’: Hockney on the genius of Van Gogh

23 February 2019 9:00 am

Being in the south of France obviously gave Vincent an enormous joy, which visibly comes out in the paintings. That’s…

‘Portrait of a Young Man with a Book’, c.1524–6, by Lorenzo Lotto

Lorenzo Lotto’s 16th century portraits come startlingly close to photography

17 November 2018 9:00 am

You can, perhaps, glimpse Lorenzo Lotto himself in the National Gallery’s marvellous exhibition, Lorenzo Lotto: Portraits. At the base of…

London calling

28 October 2017 9:00 am

Madame Monet was bored. Wouldn’t you have been? Exiled to London in the bad, cold winter of 1870–71. In rented…

‘Landscape Near Kingston, Jamaica’, 1950, by John Minton

A tale of two artists

15 July 2017 9:00 am

Wherever one looked in the arts scene of the 1940s and ’50s, one was likely to encounter the tragicomic figure…

‘Tennis’, 1930, by Eric Ravilious

Match made in heaven

8 July 2017 9:00 am

Tennis is best played with a wooden racket on a shady lawn somewhere close to Dorking. There is no need…

‘Inferno’ by Massimo Belardinelli

Comic effect

25 February 2017 9:00 am

Borag Thungg, Earthlets! If those words mean something to you, then congratulations — you are leading a good life. If…

‘Inferno’ by Massimo Belardinelli

Comic effect

23 February 2017 3:00 pm

Borag Thungg, Earthlets! If those words mean something to you, then congratulations — you are leading a good life. If…

‘Inferno’ by Massimo Belardinelli

Comic effect

23 February 2017 3:00 pm

Borag Thungg, Earthlets! If those words mean something to you, then congratulations — you are leading a good life. If…

‘Inferno’ by Massimo Belardinelli

Comic effect

23 February 2017 3:00 pm

Borag Thungg, Earthlets! If those words mean something to you, then congratulations — you are leading a good life. If…

‘Untitled’, 1963, by Gillian Ayres

Britain's abstract painters deserve more attention than America's abstract expressionists

21 November 2015 9:00 am

Fifteen million pounds and a hefty slice of architectural vision have transformed the Whitworth from a fusty Victorian art temple…

Approachable abstraction

19 November 2015 3:00 pm

Fifteen million pounds and a hefty slice of architectural vision have transformed the Whitworth from a fusty Victorian art temple…

‘Untitled’, 1963, by Gillian Ayres

Approachable abstraction

19 November 2015 3:00 pm

Fifteen million pounds and a hefty slice of architectural vision have transformed the Whitworth from a fusty Victorian art temple…

‘Untitled’, 1963, by Gillian Ayres

Approachable abstraction

19 November 2015 3:00 pm

Fifteen million pounds and a hefty slice of architectural vision have transformed the Whitworth from a fusty Victorian art temple…