Exhibition of the week
Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution
What makes history gripping? Is it plague, fire and revolution – all of which feature in the world of the great 17th-century diarist Pepys – or the daily details he records from feasting on oysters to “dallying” with women at every available opportunity? This should be a fascinating encounter with the art, science and gritty reality of Pepys and his age.
• National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, from 20 November until 28 March.
Other exhibitions this week
Susan Philipsz
The best sound artist on the block has created an aural echo of 20th-century wars.
• Tate Britain, London, from 21 November until 3 April.
Matisse in Focus
The Tate’s rather decent collection of the works of Henri Matisse, including his dazzling cut-out The Snail, come to Merseyside as part of a season entitled Works to Know By Heart. These certainly fit that criterion.
• Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, from 20 November until 2 May.
Bejewelled Treasures
This show of the Al Thani collection of Indian jewellery mixes historical opulence and contemporary creativity.
• V&A, London, from 21 November until 28 March.
With Space in Mind
Rachel Whiteread, Cornelia Parker and Richard Serra are among the printmaking sculptors showing tactile images on paper.
• Alan Cristea Gallery, London, from 19 November until 23 December.
Masterpiece of the week
Anthony van Dyck – Equestrian Portrait of Charles I (c 1637-8)
Van Dyck portrays the doomed ruler Charles I as a heroic knight on his mighty steed – an image that was taken seriously at the Stuart court, where Rubens painted Charles as St George fighting the dragon. This painting reflects the chivalric splendour of Charles’s self-image, which was not – sadly for him – so beloved by Puritans.
• National Gallery, London.
Image of the week
What we learned this week
That Marina Abramović is being sued by her former lover Ulay
And Ulay explains exclusively how their relationship soured
How Modigliani’s hymn to lust shows that sex will always be the greatest salesman
Are the most expensive paintings ever worth their prices? Here’s a definitive ranking
Alexander Calder’s high-wire circus act hits Tate Modern
And why Pavlensky is right to set Russia’s evil history ablaze
Megastructures: seven wonders of the modern world that are near completion
Photographers tell the stories of their most intimate shots
Take me to the cosmic vagina: step inside Tibet’s secret tantric temple
Blistering barnacles! Tintin is back – with added swearwords
How James Turrell feels about being ripped off by Drake
The story of Peter Magubane’s photograph of a girl and her maid on a ‘Europeans only’ bench
That the council has rejected plans to turn London car park into 800 artists’ studios
That a nude sculpture of Margaret Thatcher frolicking with pigs will soon be let loose on the world
That Brian Blessed threw away a Picasso
That the National Portrait Gallery has taken down its painting of Camila Batmanghelidjh
How eerie Andy Warhol’s last artwork was
And finally …
C is for consciousness: share artworks that show your rich inner lives now
