Post-Impressionism

theartsdesk in Philadelphia: In the house of an American Medici

Sunday, 19 August 2012

MoMa and the Met, the Whitney and the Guggenheim – all very fine, but if you crave something different when in NYC, it’s worth braving Penn Station’s circles of hell to get a train to Philadelphia (takes just over an hour) to visit the mind-boggling...

Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge, Courtauld Gallery

Thursday, 23 June 2011

As one of the stars of the Moulin Rouge, she was variously known by the nicknames "La Mélinite", "Jane la Folle", and "L’Etrange". The first was after a brand of explosive, the other two attesting to a little craziness. Jane Avril’s eccentric dance...

The Mountain That Had To Be Painted, BBC Four

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Half of Wales is visible from the blustery summit. “Of all the hills which I saw in Wales,” recalled George Borrow, author of the prolix Victorian classic Wild Wales, “none made a greater impression upon me.” He was not alone. Arenig Fawr, a...

Year Out/Year In: Art's Giants in Close-Up

Monday, 03 January 2011

Last year gave us three giants of Post-Impressionism. The Royal Academy promised to unveil the real Van Gogh by showing us the man of letters; Tate Modern delivered a sumptuous survey of Gauguin; and a significantly smaller but nonetheless...

Cézanne's Card Players, Courtauld Gallery

Friday, 29 October 2010

Give me a small side order of Cézannes over a great feast of Gauguins any day. This small, perfectly formed survey will surely be noted as one of the best exhibitions this year, the type of exhibition at which the Courtauld Gallery clearly excels:...

Gauguin: Maker of Myth, Tate Modern

Thursday, 30 September 2010

'Self-portrait with Manao tu papau' by Paul Gauguin

Gauguin has always been the poor relation in the art-legend sweepstakes. Unlike Van Gogh, there is no heartwarming story of overcoming lack of technical facility; no ghoulishly enjoyable story of genius crushed by madness. Instead, there is a...