Whether it’s the first one or the latest of many, a visit to Florence’s Uffizi is bound to leave you breathless. Such are the quality and the breadth of its collection, it’s like embarking on a relentless quest for the best picture, with the disarming awareness that it’s impossible to pick one. So you just keep going, room after room, masterpiece after masterpiece, soaking it all in until you’re almost drunk. Hoping that at least a tiny fragment of the exhilarating energy tha

"If I have to change my lifestyle, I don't want to live." - Robert Mapplethorpe In this powerful self-portrait Robert Mapplethorpe looks us straight in the eye. The glowing black background and the focused use of light make his head and his hand look almost detached from his torso, as if floating in mid-air. The skull sceptre he is so forcefully holding in the foreground symbolises the awareness that death was coming for him. Mapplethorpe would die of an AIDS-related illness

“I always use simple elements, I don’t want to add or subtract anything. I never even wanted to deform either: I isolate and I represent. Domenico Gnoli (1933-1970) This superbly displayed show tells the story of the enigma that is hidden in the everyday object. Gnoli’s hugely rewarding canvasses celebrate the mystery of the ordinary, the unsuspected magic of the familiar. The artist, who died at a painfully young 36 years of age, explored reality by zooming in on the detail

At long last, my reading drought has come to an end. I am currently re-reading the original version of The Life Before Us written in 1975 by French author Romain Gary under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar. This extraordinary novel tells the story of Momo, the abandoned child of a prostitute, the mother he will never know. Mere pages into this second reading, I was reminded that Gary used the verb 'se defendre', to defend oneself, to describe what prostitutes do. I am puzzled by t

"I try to make bright paintings, but every time I fall into the shadows, maybe because darkness is the ultimate condition of things, whereas light is only temporary." - Nicola Samori in an interview to Art Tribune Darkness and light. Oh how they coexist and engage in an epic struggle in Samori's striking body of work, which is uniquely atmospheric and haunting. It is clear he is a classically trained painter, and a very good one he is, too. His bold brushstrokes sweep across

“My photography has always provided me with an opportunity to open myself up and see the world around me. And most of all, photography makes me look within.” - Laura Aguilar In her series of self-portraits set in the rocky desert landscape of the American Southwest, Laura Aguilar used her body like a sculpture, she is a human monolith. Her large body is draped on a big boulder whose shape echoes hers. It's hard to say whether she felt at one with nature or whether she was try

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Pablo Picasso Dust. How many tonnes of dust are we currently covered in? Painful, heavy dust accumulated from the prolonged anxiety and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. Infuriating, ugly dust thrown at us by corrupt and dangerously incompetent politicians day in, day out. Oh, and then there's the surreal, disquieting dust coming from across the pond (despite the good news that change is finally coming, of cour

“We are at a precipice in this country, and we are either going to move forward or we are not.” - Carrie Mae Weems In 2016, nearly half of the eligible US voters opted to forgo one of their fundamental civil rights and did not vote. This means that over 100 million Americans were so irreconcilably disengaged from politics that they could not be bothered to have their say. Worryingly, a whopping 20% of this 100 million is planning to do the same this year. The reason? They are

Venice is, among many other wonderful things, synonymous with glass. The work of the Murano glassblowers has inspired countless artists to explore the possibilities of this fascinating medium and break the barriers of functionality to land into full-fledged artistic territory. Le Stanze del Vetro and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore present a superb show of 155 pieces and installations that trace the history of the American Studiio Glass throu

"The wall is a monument to openness over enclosure, lightness over heaviness, transience over permanence — it’s also fraught with political meanings." - Héctor Zamora Oh the timeliness. Oh the metaphor. Oh the poetry. Oh the delight. Lattice Detour truly has it all. This wall, in fact, may well be the ultimate installation for a social space in 2020 America. A wall in America - the defining symbol of our (extremely messed up) times. A wall on the Met terrace, one of the most

‘The series was created from a personal need for spiritual grounding after experiencing trauma. The search for what gives meaning to our lives and what we hold onto in times of despair and life changing challenges.’ - Khadija Saye To most of you, Grenfell Tower won't ring any bells. To Londoners, its mention immediately evokes a raging blaze, a preventable tragedy, and the tragic loss of 72 innocent lives, the victims of social inequality and injustice. Khadija Saye, 24 years

The Leopold Museum in Vienna's MuseumsQuartier is one the many gems of the city's outstanding cultural offering, arguably among the richest in Europe. The museum offers a comprehensive overview of Austrian art from the second half of the 19th century and Modernism (incl. works by Klimt and Kokoschka) and is home to the largest Schiele collection in the world. It's a rather tragic story that of Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele. After losing his dad to syphylis when he was o

Discovery no. 1: Gorky Park is a name I used to associate with a spy movie from the 80s. Now I know where it is, it took me well over an hour to walk there on a cold, wind-swept autumn day. The park, of which sadly I only saw a fraction, is also the home of Garage, founded in 2008 by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and his former spouse Dasha Zhukova. Discovery no. 2: I had not come across the work of Robert Longo before, it was one of those unexpected and wonderful even

With permanent installations across the globe, Barcelona-born Jaume Plensa is the one of the doyens of large scale artistic projects in public spaces. Plensa uses thousands of letters and the shape of the human body to create sculptural works that convey great intensity combined with a mysterious serenity. With the aid of iron, glass and resin, he balances form and scale to give life to works that are both soothing and compelling. The theme of the heads of young women is a re

There are many reasons to visit the Getty Centre, which is nestled in the hills overlooking West Los Angeles. The first is probably its unique architecture, one of Richard Meier's most visionary and iconic achievements. The second is the oddly serene view that can be enjoyed from the beautifully landscaped gardens. The museum's collection is also quite impressive, and it was it difficult to pick just one work for this post. Then I remembered being struck by this delightful De

The reality that my 2020 travel plans (and the inevitable art 'intake' that was supposed to go with them) have all but gone up in smoke has now well and truly hit me in the face. Given a 2nd trip to Moscow was on the cards, the bad news is that there won't be any new rave reviews of Russian socialist realist paintings. The good news is that I can and will 'recycle' my old museum visits so there will be, among others, rave reviews of Russian socialist paintings after all. Ha.

Today is the most awaited day of my year. The hopeful and feverish monitoring of the evolution of the buds on my beloved pear tree culminates and ends on the day I wake up to find buds have turned into flowers. That day is today. White, fragile, ephemeral, beautiful and moving, trembling in the breeze against the clear blue sky. Today I’m feeling a little bit like Vincent in Arles. I also choose to live this day in contemplation and in awe of nature. This yearly gift is immen

Luxembourg-born Edward Steichen is one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of the Photo-Secession, a movement that promoted the idea that photography was not just about accurately reproducing the world, but also about creating artistic imagery. Steichen and his peers adopted a more 'painterly' approach to photography using filters and soft focus to express their creativity and manipulate their images. Steichen, who had trained

I now realise this series has very much gone from 'spring in art' to 'flowers in art'. And granted, chances are Mexico is blessed with beautiful flowers all year round. But the point here is to celebrate the symbolism of flowers (rebirth, hope, beauty, love, you name it) as opposed to their seasonality, so here goes. That of Alfredo Ramos Martinez is a name I suspect won't ring many bells. Together with the more celebrated Rivera, Siqueiros, Orozco and, of course, Kahlo, he w

There is something particularly poignant about this painting. Maybe because van Gogh created this resplendent vision of spring mere months before he decided to take his own life. A gift to his beloved brother Theo and sister-in-law Jo for birth of their son Vincent Willem, the founder of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Almond Blossom is a joyful celebration of the awakening of nature and the arrival of new life. The Dutch artist had moved to Arles in the south of France in