Robert Rauschenberg
Tate Modern, London
It is the season of goodwill, and the great American artist Robert Rauschenberg was generous in every sense, from the richness of his works to his engaged involvement in politics and philanthropy. He also happened to be a genius. In the 1950s, Rauschenberg took painting off the wall to create free-flowing assemblages of stuff that exist between art and life and tell an epic history of the US. In the 1960s, he mourned JFK and celebrated the space race in eerie, whitewashed silkscreen collages. Whatever he did, he did it with a big, bold imagination that should make this a top art present to yourself.
From 1 December-2 April, tate.org.uk
Beyond Caravaggio
National Gallery, London
There are Christmas cards galore in this rich and absorbing journey through 17th-century art, made under the influence of the incendiary genius Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The glowing candlelit paintings of Caravaggio’s Dutch followers are particularly heartwarming. Orazio Gentileschi’s Rest On the Flight Into Egypt is a lovely relocation of the Christmas story to the Italian countryside, while fleshy, all-too-human angels flit through the show. Best of all are the works of Caravaggio himself, which startle, shock and scintillate the soul. Whatever your beliefs, this is one Christmas mass you should attend. Gloria in excelsis.
Until 15 January, nationalgallery.org.uk
Joan Eardley
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
This humane postwar artist portrayed Glasgow street children in paintings that combine tough accuracy with a lyrical warmth. She got close to the children and painted their lives with raw honesty. As well as the kids of Glasgow’s Townhead area, she also loved to paint in the fishing village of Catterline near Aberdeen, where she owned a basic cottage until her death in 1963 at the age of just 42. Eardley’s art spans the urban and rural faces of Scotland and is a powerful, unvarnished history of both.
From 3 December-21 May, nationalgalleries.org
Andy Warhol
The Whitworth, Manchester
Very few modern artists have taken a big interest in Christmas, but Andy Warhol loved to draw Christmas cards and give gifts. He was also a closet Christian who worked secretly in soup kitchens. This, then, is a good time of year to see works by Warhol from the superb Artist Rooms national collection. His bleak and cool facade is no longer fooling anyone. Warhol was a standup guy, a moral artist hiding behind the glitter of the Factory to observe and record the beauty and sadness of modern life. The NYPD choir are singing I’ll Be Your Mirror while Andy serves the soup.
From 19 November-16 April, whitworth.manchester.ac.uk
Angela Harding
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
As winter chills and clarifies the landscape, it’s a good time to walk the hills of Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Along with its permanent collection of works by Henry Moore, James Turrell and more, it has an exhibition over Christmas of rustic art by Angela Harding that glories in the passing seasons of the British countryside. Hares leap, foxes hunt and birds hide in the hedges in Harding’s block prints, which give nature a robustly drawn, iconic intensity. Her images preserve a British tradition of natural emblems that evokes Georgian engraver and naturalist Thomas Bewick.
From 19 November-26 February, ysp.co.uk
