Exhibition of the week: Death – A Self-Portrait
Art has an appetite for death. Damien Hirst did not invent the oldest subject of all. Ancient neolithic heads from Jericho reveal how basic the idea of preserving memories of the dead has always been to making art: these skulls were covered with plaster, with shells for eyes to sanctify and humanise them. Ancient Egyptian mummy portraits, 17th-century Vanitas still life paintings and Rachel Whiteread's Ghost all find artistic vitality in the realm of death. In this exhibition, Death paints a "self-portrait" with the aid of artists who include Rembrandt and Goya. It promises to be another intriguing meeting of art and medicine at this enlightened cabinet of curiosities.
• Wellcome Collection, London NW1, from 15 November until 23 February 2013
Other exhibitions this week
A Bigger Splash
In the late 1940s, Jackson Pollock danced his way around canvases laid on the ground to create his "action paintings". This exhibition explores how live performance has interacted with painting ever since.
• Tate Modern, London SE1, from 14 November until 1 April 2013
Light from the Middle East
New photographs of the Middle East, by people who live and work there, promise a changed perspective.
• V&A, London SW7, from 13 November until 7 April 2013
Mughal India
The miniaturists and portraitists of the Mughal Empire are exquisite masters.
• British Library, London NW1, until 2 April 2013
Tracing the Century: Drawing as a Catalyst for Change
This exhibition explores the place of drawing in avant garde art from Cezanne to Julie Mehretu, featuring more than a hundred works of art and arguing that drawing is central to the way modernism and post-modernism change and develop.
• Tate Liverpool, L3 from 16 November until 20 January 2013
Masterpiece of the week
Mausoleum of Halikarnassos
One of the most incredible ensembles of art ever created can be found in a quiet corner of the British Museum. The Mausoleum was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. You can see why as you look up at a colossal horse which once stood high on this grandiose funeral monument, along with a marble frieze and other massive pieces of this stupefying structure, all coolly exhibited for museum visitors to contemplate. Stop, traveller, and ponder awhile.
• British Museum, London WC1B
Image of the week
What we learned this week
That there's now an iPhone case with pepper spray attachment
How Henri Cartier-Bresson lives on
What the billion dollar art sale in New York reveals about the art world, and its political leanings
That the Vatican may curb access to Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling
And finally ...
• Happy about Obama? Our Share your art theme is government. Submit your celebratory works now
• Don't forget you can also post your images to the Guardian Art and Design Flickr
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