Monet
josh.spero
This time, the hype was perhaps deserved: Christie's did have a claim to be putting on, last night, the sale of the century.The Impressionist and Modern works were of a distinctly high calibre: Picasso's high Blue Period Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, a moody but perceptive masterpiece; a Nymphéas by Monet verging on the abstract, with subtle fields of colour; and a clutch of 10-million-pounders, including another Picasso, a Van Gogh and a Klimt. So how can a record-breaking sale total of £153m be a disappointment? First, the Monet didn't sell, reaching £29.4m before it was withdrawn Read more ...
Ismene Brown
It is a curious feeling to go to meet a hated figure and find a delicate, blonde girl with a sweet face.On Monday, 23-year-old ballerina Alina Somova opens the batting for the legendary Mariinsky Ballet’s Covent Garden tour in Romeo and Juliet, needing to defy her critics who line up from West to East accusing her of vulgarising the majestic, poised St Petersburg style that defines classical ballet worldwide.Even for a ballerina, in an art where physical evolution seems to move twice as fast as anywhere else, Somova is peculiarly flexible. She throws her leg high over the vertical, even in a Read more ...