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exhibition of the week
giorgio morandi
One of the greatest artists of modern Italy gets a beautiful and revealing spectacle of his haunting still lifes.
• Estorick Collection, London, until April 30
also showing
marcus harvey
Images of historical heroes and anti-heroes from the artist whose portrayal of Myra Hindley scandalized in the 1990s.
• Wellington Arch, London, from January 11 to March 19
Dan Flavin
Shimmering modern masterpieces from this visionary sculptor of light.
• David Zwirner, London, from January 12 to February 18
Charles Henry Delafosse
Photographs of work and survival in the Ivory Coast.
• Gerald Moore Gallery, Eltham, London, January 12-28
Barbara Hepworth
The greatest artist to have worked in St Ives, Cornwall, is given a show on the chosen ground.
• Tate St. Ives until May 1
picture of the Week
A woman photographs a Banksy artwork on a building destroyed by fighting in Borodyanka, near Kyiv. The image is one of seven street murals painted by the British artist in and around the Ukrainian capital in November, the fate of which is now widely disputed after one was stolen but later recovered. Read the full story here.
what we learned
Glasgow is considering legal graffiti walls amid a boom in the city
A British collector has come together to help a museum of Russian art in Spain
US museums to highlight the work of women artists this year
The British Museum has held secret talks with Greece about the return of the Parthenon marbles
American artist Dorothy Iannone, whose work focused on intense love, has died at the age of 89.
A portrait of Victorian artist Richard Dadd, who he painted while a patient at Bethlem, is on display
Japanese architect and “postmodern giant” Arata Isozaki dies
Two major museums are at odds over a Vermeer painting
A Texas museum has returned a looted sarcophagus to Egypt
masterpiece of the week
A Vase of Flowers, 1896, by Paul Gauguin
You wouldn’t necessarily guess that Gauguin painted this still life in Tahiti. After all, flowers like bougainvillea and hibiscus, both of which are pictured here, began to be imported into Europe as soon as ships could sail around the world. Such botanical migrations meant that Gauguin’s follower Henri Rousseau could paint “jungles” simply with visits to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. But this is not a scientific study of plants. It is a painting whose heady aroma you can smell, as the rich colors of the flowers melt and shimmer in your mind, blending into a drugged mystique edged with gold of tropical splendor. When Gauguin arrived to stay with van Gogh in Arles, his friend greeted him with exultant paintings of sunflowers. Here, Gauguin responds to his brilliance with darker and stranger shades of longing.
• National Gallery, London
do not forget
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