Features
The rise of performance art in Renaissance Italy
An accomplished musician as well as a painter, Lorenzo Costa was perfectly placed to capture the changing fashions and shifting social etiquette of his day
‘Bandjoun Station is an imposing proposition’
Clad in the symbolic designs of artist and founder Barthélémy Toguo, the arts centre in Cameroon is breaking new ground
Loewe brings Mr and Mrs Albers to the catwalk
The effect of translating Anni’s textiles and Josef’s paintings to fashion is, paradoxically, a heightened appreciation for the original work
Gilty pleasures – Versailles in the 21st century
With new leadership and restored rooms that haven’t looked this good since the Ancien Régime, the palace is entering a new golden era
The rewarding mystery of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
A large painting of three boys in the water does not readily disclose its secrets – but perhaps that is precisely the point
‘The painting ought not to feel measured – something horrible is happening’
Tessa Hadley is unsettled by Giovanni Bellini’s eerily calm depiction of the murder of Saint Peter Martyr
New kid on the bloc – behind the scenes at Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art
This nomadic gallery finally has a permanent home, but can the impressive collection protect it from Poland’s fraught cultural politics?
Layer cakes – the colourful confections of Wayne Thiebaud
In his voluptuous paintings of cakes and other foodstuffs, the American artist captured both pleasure and a sense of surfeit
At home with Charles Dickens
The novelist was a wandering soul, so what can his house in London – now celebrating its centenary as a museum – tell us about the man?
The Chinese artist who brought ink painting to a new audience
A meditative painting by Qi Baishi demonstrates his modern approach to an ancient art form, explains Jeremy Zhang of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco
When Rubens was king of the castle
The Flemish castle bought by Rubens in 1635 was intended as a country retreat, and it inspired the artist’s greatest landscapes
The painter who poked fun at 18th-century Paris
Working in the new medium of pastels, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour portrayed the elites of his day in a style to suit the hedonism of the age
Wining and dining in the prints of Pablo Picasso
Picasso was the possessor of a hearty appetite and depictions of alcohol and excess are also central to his work
Can American art museums escape the culture wars?
Recent rehangs at the Met and the Brooklyn Museum suggest that part of the answer lies in respecting the viewer’s own capacity for interpretation
Queen of suspense – the art of Patricia Highsmith
Thirty years after the novelist’s death, Apollo revisits the Ripley creator’s close ties to the visual arts
Inside Edith Wharton’s house, a mirthful ode to classical taste
The home the writer designed for herself in the hills of Massachusetts is a window on to the shifting tastes of Gilded Age America
Acquisitions of the month: January 2025
Highlights include a trove of photographs by Robert Frank and the first Bernini statue in a Dutch public collection
Prince Karim Aga Khan IV (1936–2025)
The Aga Khan IV, who has died at the age of 88, formed an important collection of Islamic art and dedicated some of his fabulous wealth to cultural heritage projects around the world
The meteorite that fired up Dürer’s imagination
Helen Gordon charts the fall and cultural rise of the Ensisheim meteorite of 1492
On the irresistible ripples of Viennetta
A textural triumph and a sensual delight, this distinctly ’80s ice cream is as pleasing to look at as it is to consume
The Louvre restores Cimabue to his rightful place
Two restored masterpieces – one vast in scale, the other intimate – are being shown together for the first time to give us fresh insights into ‘the first light of Renaissance painting’
Pompeii’s extraordinary recent discoveries lay a firm foundation for the future
The Great Pompeii project has more than lived up to the name, but it’s now time for a period of conservation and consolidation
The menacing visions of Jusepe de Ribera
Though clearly influenced by Caravaggio, the Spanish painter rendered saints and sinners in a ferocious style all of his own
The repeat performances of William Morris
The designer’s wallpaper patterns are so familiar that they’re in danger of being taken for granted – but there’s still plenty to discover if we look more closely
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