I’ve told this story before. In the French charming provinces, in a place known for its Medieval kings, its snails and its wine, is a small town. There, in one of its working class neighbourhoods is a building designed by the Japanese starchitect Shigeru Ban that...
To mark the exceptional Picabia retrospective at MoMA in New York (from 21 November to 19 March), I’m reposting my article about its earlier incarnation this summer in Zurich, featuring an exceptional account by specialist Alain Tarica. As the Zurich curator Catherine...
Art which is political to the exclusion of all else is pointless, regardless of how human its message. Art demands the foundation. It demands the form too. Otherwise you simply end up with illustrations. The greatest shock that I had the chance to experience recently...
The history of art spends its time righting past wrongs. The most recent case comes in the shape of a stunning exhibition on an Impressionist artist at the Musée d’Orsay, which runs until 5 March when it will travel to the National Gallery in Washington. Through the...
‘It is essential for the sensual element to be included in some way or another in any work of art.’ These words were written by Mark Rothko, the most sensual of abstract artists (in his paintings, at any rate). The sensual dimension is vitally important to art...
It is commonplace to say that he is one of the greatest names in painting in the 20th century. Mark Rothko (1903-1970) committed suicide at the age of 66 and we invariably connect his darkest paintings to the period preceding his death. ‘It’s so easy to tell a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRl1EuJNnFk In the small world of international contemporary art, he's a star. Yet he has no objects for sale, unless you include (good) intentions, freedom and a moderate desire to change the world. His name is Tino Sehgal, he...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-Mq5PtT9Yw This story gets off on the wrong foot. It involves an artist who is already the subject of a lot of talk – arguably a little too much – and who caused several scandals in the 2000s, through his art, and also with his...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZ4qd07O1Y The Anglo-Indian writer Salman Rushdie, in Midnight’s Children,the book which launched his career,  tells the fascinating story of a young Indian doctor who is summoned each week to the bedside of a young woman who he...
This story was written after  a trip to Saint Petersburg and Moscow The history of modern art, in its great sweep, has been punctuated by miraculous tales of wealthy patrons who were more than just far-sighted, they were enormously generous towards artists who, thanks...
There is a new very good space in France for international contemporary art – the Van Gogh Foundation in Arles. You can look for all the similarities you want between Vincent Van Gogh, who is almost the adoptive son of this region, and the artists programmed here (Yan...
‘This is not a pipe’. It appears on t-shirts, mugs, and in advertising slogans and has become the biggest cliché  of modern art. René Magritte (1898-1967), who painted the pipe in 1929 accompanied by the famous line ‘ceci n’est pas...’  or 'this is not...' has earned...