Exhibition of the week
Sicily: Culture and Conquest
The island of Sicily has been a prize fought over by all the cultures of the Mediterranean world since ancient times. This exhibition tells how Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans conquered and reconquered Sicily. In spite of enmity and war, their arts merged and fused to create such multicultural masterpieces as the Cappella Reale in Palermo, with its gorgeous mixture of Christian and Islamic styles. A great advert not just for Sicily but for the unexpectedly enlightened Normans.
• British Museum, London, 21 April-14 August.
Also showing
Jim Woodall
The experimental space Matt’s Gallery, where some of the defining British artworks of the past few decades began their lives, will soon be moving to a new location. This is the very last show in its renowned east London venue and, with an anarchic spirit this gallery has done so much to uphold, it is on for just one day only: this Sunday. Farewell to a place that will live on in the history of British art.
• Matt’s Gallery, London, 17 April.
Mat Collishaw
Eerie images of sex and violence in a richly historic setting by this powerful and original British artist.
• Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, 23 April-30 October.
Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear
The V&A is already full of nude statues but this exhibition is about the titillating borderline between being clothed and unclothed.
• V&A, London, 16 April-12 March 2017.
Jenny Saville
Sensual drawings by the visceral painter and erstwhile YBA.
• Gagosian, Davies Street, London, until 28 May
Masterpiece of the week
In Greek mythology, the cyclops Polyphemus was a one-eyed giant who lived among the massive rocks of Sicily’s volcanic Mount Etna coast. Turner translates this geographical setting into a fantastic vision of light, height, water and fire. The Greeks on their ship deliberately insult the giant as they sail away, but they are making a mistake; he is Poseidon’s son and that blazing sea will soon turn to a stormy, monster-populated hell and kill all but one of them.
• National Gallery, London.
Image of the week
What we learned
Some famous artists’ studios are a mess, others are surprisingly tidy
The so-called Caravaggio in the attic looks like a fake ... to me
But works of art like his don’t need trigger warnings, Stephen Fry
The new Tate Modern will have more seats, more space, more women
But Tate Britain’s Conceptual Art show is one for the trainspotters
Perhaps we shouldn’t fix up Palmyra after Isis – for history’s sake
Glasgow International festival rules the waves in 2016
Malian master photographer Malick Sidibé has died at the age of 80
Polly Tootal has photographed Britain ... without any people in it
A $25,000 reward has been offered after the theft of seven Andy Warhols
Two major Jackson Pollocks will be reunited in London this autumn
Leonardo da Vinci’s descendants apparently include Franco Zeffirelli
Wellcome’s This Is a Voice shows how you talk can mask or betray you
That ridiculed restoration of a Spanish castle is now a prize-winner
The V&A is putting centuries of smalls on display, hadn’t you heard?
You can now buy pants that filter your farts OR smell of bacon
French art can be funny. Just check out the work of Jean-Luc Moulène
Shoreditch’s latest skyscrapers are a London tower too far – even for Boris
Everything is connected in these beautiful photos by Thomas Struth
Erik Kessels has winched his father’s old Fiat 500 through the roof
London doesn’t need a new Smithsonian Museum – how about Hull?
Australians build the best playgrounds in the world!
It’s really, really hard to draw the Queen – even on a banknote
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