Raphael, National Gallery. Review by Carla Scarano. The comprehensive exhibition at the National Gallery on Raffaello Sanzio’s career is an impressive and exceptional display of his most famous paintings as well as his achievements as a printmaker, architect, archaeologist, sculptor, entrepreneur and chief architect of the new basilica of St Peter.
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London Now and The Art of Literature. Review by Barbara Lewis. Leonardo da Vinci, creator of Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting sold yet, said: “painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen”. Seller of the Salvator Mundi in 2017, Christie’s, which is cultivating its image as so much more than a place where very rich people spend millions, has taken his words as part of the inspiration for an exhibition open free to the public that showcases teasingly the latest lots next to rarely seen, privately-held works that are not for sale.
Surrealism Beyond Borders. Review by Barbara Lewis. Surrealism has never respected borders of any kind. As a movement, it crystallised in 1924 in Paris, and, even then, some artists questioned whether they could belong to something that by definition defied easy categorisation.
Francis Bacon: Man and Beast. Review by Graham Buchan. “Life is suffering”. If you need visual confirmation of that, look no further than this great exhibition of Francis Bacon’s work.
The Roman School of Painting at Villa Torlonia. Review by Carla Scarano. The impressive compound of Villa Torlonia, which is in via Nomentana in Rome, is the result of the development of various buildings in the natural environment of the park.
Hogarth and Europe: Uncovering City Life. Tate Britain Until 22 March 2022. Review by Carla Scarano.
The exhibition highlights Hogarth’s artistic connections with his European contemporary artists and his satirical depiction and moral flogging of Georgian Britain.
Dürer’s Journeys, Travels of a Renaissance Artist. Review by Barbara Lewis.
Billed as the first major UK exhibition of Albrecht Dürer in nearly 20 years, ‘Dürer’s Journeys’ explores how travel filled him with wonder, stocked his mind with images and shaped not just his art, but that of his contemporaries.
Poussin and the Dance. National Gallery Until January 2022 Whirling movements, careful choreography and harmonious compositions characterise the works of Poussin that are on display at the exhibition at the National Gallery. He cleverly combined a rigorous study of Greek and Roman antiquities with Baroque sensitivity.
Georgia O’Keeffe. Review by Barbara Lewis. For those in any doubt, the first retrospective in Paris of Georgia O’Keeffe overwhelmingly makes the case that there is even more to the first woman artist to be taken seriously by critics, collectors and art museums than her gigantic sensual flowers.
Late Constable, Royal Academy. Review by Graham Buchan. Frankly, I find it hard to imagine anyone liking the bulk of Constable’s works more than the bulk of Turner’s. The two painters, almost exact contemporaries, differed in their backgrounds and their approaches to their art.
Thesmophoria in ancient Greek religion is a festival typically held in late autumn in honour of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. A celebration of human and agricultural fertility, it has been interpreted as the carrying on of things laid down.
Milton Avery. Royal Academy. Review by Graham Buchan. Milton Avery must be considered as a bridge between art movements rather than a singular trail-blazer for any particular group.
By Graham Buchan • art, exhibitions, painting, year 2022 • Tags: art, exhibitions, Graham Buchan, painting