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Exhibition of the week
Jan de Beer’s Renaissance Altarpieces
There’s nothing more seasonal than a nicely painted nativity and this Flemish artist painted some very fine ones indeed.
• Barber Institute, Birmingham, until 19 January.
Also showing
Cars
Vroom, vroom – this blockbuster for all the family offers some turbocharged holiday spectacle.
• V&A, London, until 19 April.
Tutankhamun
A thrill for kids and grownups. Don’t miss the most jaw-dropping selection of great archaeological treasures ever likely to visit Britain.
• Saatchi Gallery, London, until 3 May.
Bridget Riley
A psychedelic mystery tour of Riley’s eye-opening art – like a party in your head, but without the hangover.
• Hayward Gallery, London, until 26 January.
Inspired by the East
This essayistic exhibition on how European artists from Rubens to Picasso saw Islam is full of surprising insights.
• British Museum, London, until 26 January.
Image of the week
Climate Meltdown, by Rubem Robierb
Art Basel in Miami took time out from fixating on a $120,000 banana to view Brazilian artist Rubem Robierb’s ice-sculpture, a quote from environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg’s impassioned September 2019 speech to the United Nations blamed world leaders for not doing enough. Robierb was inspired to make the 36ft-long art work, which floated across the pool at the Shore Club South Beach, before melting. The artist said: “Climate change is the biggest issue of all time because it affects every living being on our planet.”
What we learned
The Guardian chose its best art shows, photography and architecture of 2019
London’s Thames Estuary theme park is a £3.5bn fantasy realm
Salisbury Cathedral’s Christmas tableau features a rugby player’s baby
A new nativity has been found in Durham
Gilbert and George have put their art on plates for charity
Steve McQueen and Tate have called for an arts-rich school curriculum
Port Talbot locals are underwhelmed by their new Banksy
… while animal graffiti artist ROA things big
Art Basel Miami might run into trouble tackling climate change
China’s biggest photo fair takes place under the state censor’s eye
The National Gallery has bought a Gentileschi with £22m in donations
The Champs-Élysées is getting a €250m makeover
Artists were at the centre of 80s New York
Theaster Gates has made an eloquent memorial to Malaga Island
Nothing was smoked in the writing of this review
The Bloomberg New Contemporaries showcase caps a vintage year
Dakar may be hosting the most important show in African history
Everyday life can bring spectacular joy
Nan Goldin’s game-changing topped our art exhibitions of 2019
Photographers picked their most inspiring images
Masterpiece of the week
The Aldobrandini Madonna, about 1532, by Titian
Move over, magi. Shift it, shepherds. At a time of year when the men who gathered around the stable traditionally feature on Old Master Christmas cards, here is a painting in which a woman adores the infant Jesus. Her impassioned gaze as she kneels beside Mary is charged with such emotional truth that you know she has to be a real person posing. Yet she is painted into a visionary moment as Mary lets her hold the baby in a scene of trusting friendship, overlooked by John the Baptist. This might actually be intended as a subversive Christmas scene, for its pastoral setting with a shepherd and his flock, and the angel of the Lord coming down, suggests we’re seeing an event that preceded the Adoration of the Shepherds. Who was the Venetian woman who could afford to commission a personal religious masterpiece that immortalises her as Mary’s friend?
Don’t forget
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