A lot of news the media publish is pure fiction. I do not mean lies. It's just that, in defining certain categories of events as news, you impose a false grid on reality. It has its uses, but it often results in reams of words that don't really have much to do with anything.
Take the idea of rounding up the year. It seems like common sense, but has nothing to do with how anyone really thinks. Have you ever sat down in the Christmas holidays to list the most important events and experiences of your year? No, nor have I.
Time is not linear. It is enigmatic; we experience it in complex ways. So here is my anti-roundup of the art that meant most to me in 2011. The point is, this mixture does not fit into any conventional definition of the newsworthy, the contemporary or the relevant. We encounter art in our own meandering way. My personal wonders of 2011, in order of wondrousness:
The Annunciation, by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
This magical work of art, created in 1333, has not been in any exhibition this year. But I was lucky enough to visit the Uffizi Gallery and I got stuck in the first room, trapped by this painting. I first saw it while on holiday with my parents as a child. And this year, the beauty of it hit me all over again and meant more than any other work of art.
The Watts Towers, Los Angeles
I've wanted to see these amazing spindles of wire and glass for much of my life. This year I made the pilgrimage. It was truly worthwhile; Simon Rodia's dreaming spires are among America's great wonders.
The Lady with an Ermine, in Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan, at the National Gallery, London
This actually is in the year's finest exhibition, so here my timeline intersects with the news diary. I had never seen it before in the flesh, so to speak, and although – as with the Mona Lisa – the sheer fame of the portrait initially made it hard to respond. I was soon in love, however. Unlike the Mona Lisa, no one is ever likely to suggest she is really a man.
Annie, Poured from Maple Syrup by Ed Ruscha
It's hard to explain why this painting transfixed me at the Norton Simon museum in Pasadena. But it did.
The Venus of Urbino by Titian in the Uffizi, Florence
I did eventually get past Simone Martini in the Uffizi to gawp at how miraculously Titian paints nipples.
Enjoy Christmas.
