The architect who startled Georgian London
Only a few of his buildings survive, but in his bicentenary year George Dance the Younger and his visionary designs for London should be better known
On irresistible ripples of Viennetta
Creative Australia faces backlash after deselecting Venice Biennale artist
Plus: Qatar to get permanent national pavilion at Venice Biennale | Walter Robinson (1950–2025) | Brent Sikkema’s husband charged with hiring his killer
The owl who got his own exhibition
The New York Historical’s display about Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from Central Park Zoo, is a reminder of what freedom looks like and how easily it can be taken away
Four things to see: Love
This Valentine’s Day, we examine four artworks, spanning more than 2,000 years, inspired by love in its many different forms
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The avant-garde painters who went round in circles
Whether Orphism can be called a coherent movement is one thing, but its practitioners produced some excellent art
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
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In the studio with… Jakkai Siributr
The Thai textile artist prefers silence in his studio so he can listen to his thoughts – which proves tricky when his dogs are hanging around
In the studio with… Chrissie Hynde
The rockstar-turned-artist revels in her solitude and shuts the door to everyone except her dog when she’s in the studio – which is also her flat
February 2025
How pastels caused a stir in 18th-century Paris
Cimabue, the first light of the Renaissance
When Rubens was king of his own castle
Will US tariffs threaten the art market?
Also: American museums and the culture wars, in defence of eccentrics, the retro pleasures of Viennetta, Italy’s answer to Versailles; reviews of Orphism in New York and medieval women in London, John Singer Sargent’s favourite family, and the only Disney character who was ever funny. Plus: Helen Gordon on the meteorite that captivated Dürer
When gladiators roamed the British Isles
A touring exhibition of gladiatorial objects found in Britain makes a stab at getting to the heart of our fascination with the amphitheatre, but does it succeed?
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
In defence of the outsider artist
The art world tends to favour self-promoting extroverts, but it is often the eccentrics and wallflowers who make the most interesting work
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The real saints and scribes of medieval Europe, celebrity edition
The British Library’s exhibition of women in the Middle Ages who were creative and intellectual pioneers is a red-carpet affair
Picabia, the painter who refused to be pinned down
In his final works, some of which have never been shown before, the endlessly restless artist adopted an abstract style that challenges us to look for hidden meanings
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 memory palace of Mario Praz
The scholar’s meticulously preserved apartment in Rome testifies to his passion for all things 19th century, and to how he treated collecting as a form of memoir
‘I’m not worried about going stagnant or out of fashion’ – an interview with Jake Grewal
Ahead of an exhibition at Studio Voltaire, the painter talks to Apollo about queerness, his obsession with charcoal and why he loves the work of Keith Vaughan
Citizen Guillaume – the painter whose fortunes followed the French Revolution’s
The story of an artist who has been forgotten for nearly 200 years reflects the hopes and failures of the turbulent times he lived through
A fitting tribute to Dior
An imaginative exhibition in The Hague stresses how much the fashion house still owes to its founder
We Gather at the Edge: Contemporary Quilts by Black Women Artists
The Smithsonian’s acquisition in 2023 of a collection of quilts by Black makers forms the backbone of this show
Berlinde De Bruyckere. Khorós
Fleshy forms, unconventional materials and religious imagery come together in the work of the Belgian artist
François Boucher’s ‘Resting Girl’
Boucher’s recently restored rococo masterpiece is in the spotlight at the Alte Pinakothek
‘Degenerate’ Art: Modern Art on Trial Under the Nazis
The Musée Picasso celebrates Kandinsky, Kirchner and the many other artists condemned by the Nazis
Who will reimagine the British Museum?
The winner of the competition to redesign the most popular galleries will be announced next month, but are the finalists thinking hard enough what the museum should really be?