Exhibition of the week
Alison Watt
New paintings inspired by the sublime, poetic architecture of Georgian visionary Sir John Soane.
• Pitzhanger Manor, London, 5 March to 15 June
Also showing
William S Burroughs
Artworks by the beat author whose best novel, Queer, was recently released as a film.
• October Gallery, London, 6 March to 5 April
Ella Kruglyanskaya
Sensual, haunting figurative paintings that pay homage to Manet’s depiction of a dead matador.
• Thomas Dane Gallery, London, until 3 May
Rhea Storr
A film that documents Caribbean community groups in Wolverhampton and Sheffield.
• Site Gallery, Sheffield, until 25 May
Tim Stoner
New abstract paintings with verve, complexity and beauty.
• Pace gallery, London, 5 March to 12 April
Image of the week
Forty-five years after it was bought for a then record price, doubt has been cast over the authenticity of this painting, Samson and Delilah by Peter Paul Rubens. In a new book, art historian Euphrosyne Doxiadis argues that “the flowing, twisting brushstrokes that are so characteristic of Rubens are nowhere to be seen”, and that what the National Gallery has on its wall is actually a 20th-century copy of a now lost painting by the 17th-century Flemish master. Read the full story
What we learned
Siena was a dazzling centre of the medieval art world
Lubaina Himid will represent Britain at the 2026 Venice Biennale
Leeds-based photographer Peter Mitchell had a correspondence with Nasa
Crime-obsessed photographer Weegee still shocks today
The arts sector may be breaking the law with its use of interns
Leigh Bowery was the ultimate exhibitionist, and also Lucian Freud’s muse
Women are outperforming men in Africa’s art market
Photography is therapy for Martin Parr
Masterpiece of the week
Still Life with Fruit and Vegetables with Two Monkeys by Jan Roos, circa 1620
Grapes glisten and apples shine in this depiction of a cornucopian mass of beautifully luscious fruit. It’s a still life to make you slaver, yet the luxurious assembly of refreshing edibles is being stolen by two naughty monkeys who are portrayed with the same keen eye as the fruits. One is howling its excitement to the other as it holds delicious loot in each hand. Whichever human aristocrat or merchant was planning to gorge on these treats is due to be disappointed. It is an image of entropy undermining order; chaos coming for civilisation. Such intimations of decay and ultimately of mortality are common in 17th-century still life paintings, which sometimes swarm with insects or even reptiles, not to mention the odd human skull among the luxuries. But Roos takes a novel, comic line with his acute portrayal of mischievous monkeys.
• National Gallery, London
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