Diary of an art historian

Bendor Grosvenor, art historian and broadcaster, tells us about his latest research, discoveries and views

Cathedrals could be free for everyone—where is the imagination needed to make it happen?

A visit to Wells Cathedral, the most beautiful of Gothic cathedrals, raises questions about why the UK’s great religious edifices are not free to enter

Bendor Grosvenorabout 15 hours ago

An open letter to Chris Bryant, the tenth UK arts minister in ten years

Labour’s pre-election arts manifesto, Creating Growth, included policies to put the arts back into education and bring museums into line with universities on open data

Connoisseurship has gone out of fashion—to diversify the canon, it's time for a revival

With the Royal Academy the only UK institution now teaching connoisseurship, too many students of art history are missing out on learning an important skill

Ruins revived: when do overlooked buildings become valued again?

"In England, we still like to talk about the 'dissolution' of the monasteries as if it was a gentle process. Really, it was an annihilation," says Bendor Grosvenor

The Tudor blockbuster: why Holbein still mesmerises 500 years on

"There is evidently something about Holbein that resonates strongly with modern audiences"

Adventures with Van Gogh

Martin Bailey, our long-standing correspondent and expert on Van Gogh, tells us about his meticulous investigations and discoveries about this most intriguing artist. Published on Fridays.


Van Gogh was not fantasising when he painted mountain landscapes with ‘The Two Holes’

A pair of pictures with this bizarre geological feature have been brought together at London’s National Gallery, on loan from New York

Van Gogh’s postman: the artist's favourite portrait subject to be explored in Boston and Amsterdam shows

Vincent described his friend as having “a big, bearded face, very Socratic”

Bucolic Van Gogh riverscape with royal connections set to become the artist’s most expensive Paris work

“Moored Boats”, the “gem in the crown of the Bourbon collection”, will be auctioned in Hong Kong

Van Gogh in 2023: the best-ever series of exhibitions

Other highlights include the dramatic recovery of a stolen painting and an astonishing donation

Was Van Gogh's olive grove landscape another Nazi-era 'forced sale'?

We uncover the tangled tale of the painting controversially sold off by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1972 and now in an Athens museum

Green is the New Black

In this monthly column, our correspondent Louisa Buck looks at how the art industry is responding to our climate and ecological crisis

Insta' gratification

Aimee Dawson, our live editor, looks at how the worlds of art and social media collide


Why all museums need an in-house TikToker

Keen to capitalise on the social media channel's rising profile in the art world, the Peabody Essex Museum hired two dedicated creators in residence

How TikTok coaches art world institutions to go viral

The social media platform's lifestyle and education team has been offering services to companies like Sotheby's to help improve content and grow followings

Does coverage of Sotheby's Freddie Mercury sales show that auctions are perfect TikTok fodder?

Videos of bidding battles for the Queen frontman's possessions resulted in the auction house doubling its TikTok followers in less than a week

Instagram’s new tools prove ‘shadowbanning’ is real—and now artists are trapped

Many users are beginning to wonder if the platform's guidelines have any positive value

The Buck stopped here

Louisa Buck, our contemporary art correspondent, brings us all the latest from the UK's key art events

As the no-strings Paul Hamlyn Awards for Artists turn 30, it’s time to celebrate what makes them special

These awards, which have increased to £75,000 for each recipient this year, are unique in that they come with no conditions

In Scotland, two pioneering arts outreach models enrich their communities

Jupiter Artland sculpture park boasts an expansive education programme, while studio-cum-community workshop Sculpture House in Paisley allows artists to socially engage with their surroundings

Stretchmarks and all: motherhood and its complexities explored in two UK surveys

Both Women in Revolt and Acts of Creation treat maternity as a source of creativity, rather than a patriarchal trap or the enemy of good art

Glasgow International has no title—but it certainly has a point

While there is no overarching theme, works dealing with the impact of conflict and the legacy of colonialism dominate the tenth edition of the city-wide event this year

Lake District project connects rural England to international art world

Grizedale Arts combines creativity and hospitality in reopening region’s oldest inn

Slade to Zaria

Slade to Zaria, which refers to the prominent art schools in London and Nigeria, is a column by Chibundu Onuzo, a novelist and fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Every month she shares her reflections on the contemporary art world.


Barbara Walker's show at the Whitworth makes me feel proud to be Black British

The British artist's first major survey exhibition in Manchester is worth leaving the London-centric art bubble for

I commissioned an artist for the first time: here's what it taught me about what it really means to be a ‘collector’

The experience of working with Antonia Caicedo Holguin bestowed more on me than a lofty—and often far too exclusive—title ever could

Is the Royal Academy's 'Entangled Pasts' exhibition radical? Yes—for the Royal Academy

The London institution may have woken up to its responsibility of presenting its role in Britain’s imperial past. But please don't go back to sleep...

'The art fair is a market, not a museum'

As this year's calendar gets under way—next stops, Delhi and Los Angeles—Chibundu Onuzo reflects on her experience at Frieze London to assess what these global events offer

Trade Secrets

Every month, our editor-at-large Melanie Gerlis shares her insights on the art market

Comment | Popping the hood: what’s driving sales of luxury cars at auction houses

Christie's acquisition of Gooding & Company has renewed focus on collectible automobiles

Art Market Eye

Cutting-edge art market analysis by Georgina Adam, our editor-at-large

Pricking the art market bubble?

New report makes grim reading in run-up to London’s autumn sales season

Choppy waters ahead for the art market

Sotheby’s reported plunge in earnings is part of a bigger picture

UK general election has art trade on tenterhooks

The almost certain Labour victory could have major impact on art buyers, who were restrained during the summer season

Art Market Eye | Who’s afraid of the big bad cyberwolf?

Christie’s was hit by ransomware hackers—and now by a class action suit

Art Market Eye | The Biennale Venice effect at work

There are so many discoveries to be made at Adriano Pedrosa's international exhibition this year

The Gray Market

The Gray Market is a bi-weekly column by Tim Schneider about the art market’s transition from an informal, insular economy to a professionalised, growth-minded industry.

The Gray Market: Demand for young artists' work is bowed but unbroken in top auctions

Defying market dogma, marquee sales results show “reallocation” to youth

New York Insider

Art critic and journalist Linda Yablonksy takes us inside New York's art scene and beyond

Steve McQueen delves into family history at Dia Chelsea

Works in the artist’s show at the New York institution include a video installation in which he narrates a story of racially motivated violence told by his father against images of the actor Al Jonson in blackface

New York exhibition places brutality of Leon Golub's paintings in dialogue with contemporary artists

Hauser & Wirth show conceived by Rashid Johnson shines light on the "collector friendly" Expressionist

Maurizio Cattelan is the latest artist to take aim at US gun culture—but he's hardly the first

At Gagosian, he trains his weapon of social satire on violence as a source of wealth

In New York, Arthur Jafa sets record straight on Scorsese's Taxi Driver

In two shows in New York, at 52 Walker and Gladstone, Jafa gets to the dark side of Black life

A closer Luke

Ben Luke, our Review editor and podcast host, weighs in on the pressing issues facing the UK art world and beyond

‘"Immersive" art makes me yearn for something less empty’

Among the art world’s favourite terms, "immersive" art has become a byword for a shallow form of meaningless spectacle

'The NFT bubble has popped, but there’s still untapped potential in digital art'

Artists have long mined cyberspace for inspiration, as two current exhibitions underscore

Not everyone is celebrating Picasso’s big anniversary—that makes it more exciting

A series of exhibitions marking the 50th anniversary of the Spanish artist's death includes a show curated by comedian and Picasso-hater Hannah Gadsby

Twenty-five years after it opened, artists still find it hard to love the Guggenheim Bilbao

Architect Frank Gehry claimed his design for the Spanish satellite museum was neutral and would not compete with the art within—did he succeed?

Fair or not, Tate's discrimination row has damaged its reputation among the very artists it needs to attract

The institution denies claims that it refused to allow the increasingly prominent Black performance artist Jade Montserrat to participate in a project for Tate Exchange

Art Decoded

Twice a month, digital artist Gretchen Andrew explains new technology and its impact on art and the art world

What are DAOs? How blockchain-governed collectives might revolutionise the art world

Egalitarian and democratic, Decentralised Autonomous Organisations are powerful collecting forces with the potential to reshape the industry

Reality Bites

The art world, long-thought to be immune to, is now having to acknowledge urgent realities of pandemics, climate crisis, wars, energy and food shortages, mass migration and inflation. In a new regular column, Scott Reyburn and Anny Shaw report on what auction houses, gallerists, artists and other players are doing—or not doing—about it.

The elephant in the booth: the environmental toll of art fairs

With a host of identikit international fairs showing works already viewed online and often already sold, is there a point to generating all those air miles?

Can art actually help improve Saudi Arabia's abject human rights record?

Culture is being used by Saudi Arabia to project an image of a state that “enriches lives, celebrates national identity and builds understanding between people”

Five years after #MeToo, what has changed for female artists?

Recently, some major galleries have signed high-profile women, many of whom launched artistic careers long before the industry cared

Pakistani artists raise money for its devastating floods—and question which causes garner art world support

Osman Yousefzada and nine others sold specially created prints, but Pakistan’s worst natural disaster in living memory has yet to galvanise the industry

All hot air on climate action? Auction houses pledge to cut CO2 while organising global tours for star lots

In our new series Reality Bites, we assess whether the art market's key players are addressing the urgent issues affecting the wider world