Museums are finally reopening – and these are the shows we don’t want to miss
Apollo’s editors pick out the museum shows that they’re most looking forward to visiting in coming weeks
The week in art news – UK government approves Whitechapel Bell Foundry becoming a boutique hotel
Plus: NGA Washington appoints E. Carmen Ramos chief curator and more stories
Glam-rock Nancy Mitford – The Pursuit of Love, reviewed
Emily Mortimer’s TV adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s novel is a wonderfully glamorous affair – and its anachronisms are whip-smart
An elephant in the room, at Waddesdon Manor
Toys aren’t just for children, at least if a 250-year-old musical elephant at the grandest house in Buckinghamshire is anything to go by
The tender fictions of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
In her portraits of imaginary people, the artist conjures a world that feels joyfully real
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Weft dreams – the utopian tapestries of Archie Brennan
Archie Brennan was a committed craftsman with a fondness for optical illusions and a strong idealistic streak
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Behind the mask? An interview with Gillian Wearing
Gillian Wearing is in an unusually candid mode in her lockdown paintings, writes Martin Herbert – if you take them at face value, that is
Art without borders – an interview with Nalini Malani
The artist talks about how the history of modern India has shaped her life and her desire to reach a wide audience
May 2021
• An interview with Michael Rakowitz
• Why does Narendra Modi want to remake New Delhi?
• The dirty dishes of Daniel Spoerri
• Imperial China makes a big impression on the small screen
Plus: The history of country-house exhibitions and a spectacular discovery in Nicaragua, plus reviews of a new biography of John Craxton, a history of self-portraits by women, new Australian art, and a glimpse of things to come at LACMA
Will a gladiator’s-eye view make visiting the Colosseum more spectacular?
Installing a floor in the Colosseum will make the ruin less familiar – but may help us understand the original experience of the building
In the studio with… Julian Opie
The one tool Julian Opie could least do without? His eyes, he says – although he’d be pretty lost without his computer too
The Iranian kings who thought the world revolved around them
As the last rulers of pre-Islamic Iran, the Sasanians crafted a grand courtly culture that would go on to influence kings from the Balkans to Bengal
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In defence of giant squid sculptures
A town in Japan has spent coronavirus relief funds on a giant squid sculpture – a fine addition to the tradition of squid art, says Rakewell
Five artist collectives – and no individuals – shortlisted for Turner Prize
Plus: the Istanbul Biennial has been postponed to 2022, and more stories
How to cope with Stendhal syndrome when it strikes
The mysterious affliction usually only assails art buffs in Florence – but with many museums finally set to reopen, will visitors start dropping like flies?
In the studio with… Heather Phillipson
The artist, poet and musician Heather Phillipson may live and work in London – but her main studio, she says, is in her head
For the women of Venice, the fiddly art of bead-stringing is worth fighting for
Stringing glass beads was once the main work available to Venetian women – but it’s now a protected craft pursued by only a handful of skilled artists
Queen of suspense – the art of Patricia Highsmith
The novelist’s Ripley thrillers explore deceit like no others – but her candid drawings tell a different story
American museums should not be selling their art to keep the lights on
Deaccessioning rules for US museums have been relaxed to raise money for collection care – and even the Met may take advantage. It’s a slippery slope, says Thomas P. Campbell
What happens when you hang a painting upside down?
Georg Baselitz says it makes the viewer pay closer attention – but plenty of paintings have simply been upended due to gallerists’ gaffes
Girault de Prangey
The first photographer to capture many places in the eastern Mediterranean goes on display at the reopened Musée d’Orsay
Victor Hugo, Liberty at the Panthéon
A display at the Panthéon explores the political symbolism of the writer’s internment there in 1885
Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy
A major survey for the trailblazing British Surrealist spanning her seven-decade career, at the Whitechapel Gallery
Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint
This display at the British Museum will explore the turbulent life – and grisly death – of the 12th-century priest
The disappearance of Joseph Beuys
The German artist’s greatest work was himself – so marking his centenary makes for a curatorial conundrum