Features

The Neue Nationalgalerie’s restoration is so subtle you might not notice – and that’s a good thing

David Chipperfield’s cool, if costly, renovation plays to the gallery’s minimalist strengths

24 Aug 2021
The statue of Sebástian de Belalcázar being toppled in Cali, Colombia on 28 April 2021.

The Spanish conquistadores heading for a fall in Colombia

Colombia’s indigenous communities are toppling statues of the Spanish conquerors to highlight past and present injustices

Courtesy Autograph

Sharp shooters – the photographers who put West Africa into the frame

The portraits of James Barnor, Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé conjure up an image of cool modernity – but also draw on a long photographic tradition

21 Aug 2021
Courtesy Natural History Museum

The Jurassic fossils of the Cotswolds reveal prehistoric secrets – and can help us predict the future

A pair of amateur fossil hunters have uncovered a section of Jurassic sea floor in a sleepy corner of England

19 Aug 2021
From the series Living Lullabies (published in National Geographic in 2020), Hannah Reyes Morales

The artists collecting lullabies from all corners of the globe

These comforting songs are freighted with cultural and personal memories – and artists are working to preserve them

18 Aug 2021
Photo: by Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Loved shacks: the very British obsession with beach huts

It may be an unassuming little shelter, but the beach hut tells of a British infatuation with property and propriety

12 Aug 2021
Funghi business: still from The Truffle Hunters (2020; dir. Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw).

Funghi business: the tricks and treats of the white truffle trade

Like the rarest works of art, white truffles from Alba are commodities in a mysterious, monied world

12 Aug 2021
Raymond Erith inspecting work in progress at 10 Downing Street in 1962.

The architect who did up Downing Street without a fuss

Raymond Erith adapted classical architecture for a modern age

10 Aug 2021
Renewal of the Two Row Treaty in 2013, affirmed by Andy Mager, Hickory Edwards, Netherlands Consul Rob de Vos, Chief Jake Edwards and Faithkeeper Oren Lyons in New York, August 2013

Shell co-operation: the art of making peace in North America

Native American belts made of wampum shells have long fulfilled a diplomatic purpose – and as such are very much a living art

7 Aug 2021
Sir Walter Scott (detail; c. 1844), William Allan. National Galleries Scotland

Walter Scott conjured up a playground for painters – and they fixed his fantasy of Scotland in place

The novelist may be little read today, but his fiction inspired an enduring, Romantic vision of the past

4 Aug 2021
High scorer: Sir Geoff Hurst on top of a pod on the London Eye wearing a replica 1966 World Cup final kit on Friday 9 July, two days before the Euro 2020 final.

Tourist for a day – the London Eye may be ancient now, but it’s well worth a spin

The giant ferris wheel may now be part of the furniture – but the view from on high is still revolutionary

2 Aug 2021
Magic roundabout: the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Tourist for a day – why Parisians really ought to climb the Arc de Triomphe

Most Parisians treat the Arc de Triomphe as a glorified roundabout – but by climbing it they’d see the city in a new light

27 Jul 2021
Carving (c. 1690), Grinling Gibbons.

In praise of Grinling Gibbons, the wizard of woodcarving

The sculptor took Restoration England by storm with his virtuosic woodwork

24 Jul 2021
Dresden from the Right Bank of the Elbe Above the Augustus Bridge (detail; 1747), Bernardo Bellotto.

Bellotto’s views of Dresden tell a tale of two cities

Through the Italian painter’s eyes, the German city became both an idealised version of itself and a surrogate for his native Venice

17 Jul 2021
Portrait of an Unknown Woman (c. 1590–1600), Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. Photo: Royal Collection Trust/© HM Queen Elizabeth II 2021

Talking heads: the prattling paintings of Renaissance England

Why do paintings and objects from the Tudor and Stuart periods have so much to say for themselves?

15 Jul 2021
Post-match analysis: Wembley Stadium after the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship Final in July 2021.

Will Wembley’s art trail make it any more welcoming?

An art trail at Wembley Park won’t change the behaviour of football fans – but the best works here are at least sensitive to their surroundings

13 Jul 2021
Photo: Hufton & Crow

Towering over the Thames, a heavenly new home for Lambeth Palace Library

One of the world’s greatest collections of medieval manuscripts now has state-of-the-art accommodation, writes Michael Prodger

10 Jul 2021
The Doge’s Room. Photo: Matteo De Fina

Going to the doge’s – the Palazzo Grimani puts on a powerful display

At the Palazzo Grimani, more classical sculptures can now be seen in the splendid rooms in which they were once displayed

7 Jul 2021
The Spanish Steps starring alongside Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953).

Flight of fancy – the spectacle of the Spanish Steps

Sitting on the steps is now forbidden – but for centuries, the monumental staircase has been one of Rome’s most theatrical attractions

7 Jul 2021
The view from Santa Croce in Florence.

Roped in: the acrobatic builders repairing Italy’s historic domes and bridges

A troupe of nimble-footed technicians has been drafted in to restore monuments up and down the country – without a scaffold in sight

7 Jul 2021
Boxing in Camp (The Light Heavy-Weights) (detail; 1918), Laura Knight.

Aesthetic prowess: the artists who competed for Olympic gold

The early Olympic games of the modern era set out to celebrate both ‘muscle and mind’ – which meant that artists were in the mix for medals

3 Jul 2021
Photo: Patrick Tourneboeuf

Bourse majeure – François Pinault’s palace of art

The former stock exchange building in Paris has been filled with blue-chip art from the French billionaire’s collection

28 Jun 2021
The ‘Table Talk’ room at the Museum of the Home, London. Photo: Em Fitzgerald

Food for thought at the Museum of the Home

With Apollo’s food column to fill, Thomas Marks heads to the reimagined museum in East London to inspect its kitchens

28 Jun 2021
A Game of Croquet (1873), Édouard Manet. Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Four sports that have produced some half-decent art

Sport nowhere for most of last year – and now sport everywhere. But there is some passable sport art out there, we promise…

25 Jun 2021