Wig out! The bizarre game that lets you create mammoth hairdos
With Design a Wig, you can use feathers, powder and giant ship ornaments to make your own version of the wacky hairstyles people wore in the 18th century. It’s the perfect entry point to the V&A’s...
View ArticleWhy was Leonardo da Vinci such a genius? He was just like you and me
As a new Science Museum exhibition shows, Leonardo remains a cultural titan in the digital age because, like Shakespeare, he was an artist of the peopleContinue reading...
View ArticleAre there really only seven different types of beauty?
Extravagant, transgressive, elemental ... the Cooper Hewitt design museum in New York has taxonomised the indefinable – beauty. Is this wrong-headed scientific precision or the brave tackling of a...
View ArticleCloudy ... with a chance of artworks
Tacita Dean was so surprised to see clouds in LA, it got her drawing again. From Turner to Hockney, why are British artists always under the weather?Continue reading...
View Article'This is not America': a Chilean artist's newly electric message to Trump
Alfredo Jaar’s inflammatory billboard Logo for America lit up Times Square years ago. Now it will be installed in Piccadilly Circus – and it couldn’t be more urgentContinue reading...
View ArticleThe day I danced my Brexit woes away with a Brazilian | Jonathan Jones
The Horniman’s Festival of Brasil is a cocktail of culture, costumes and chaos – and carnival spirit is just what we need this British so-called summertimeContinue reading...
View ArticleDo androids dream of aesthetic creep? Hail the robots of post-human art
Goshka Macuga’s uncanny android is just the latest in an army of artist’s robots that began invading 100 years ago with one question: what is it to be human?Continue reading...
View ArticleThe whole truth about Van Gogh's ear, and why his 'mad genius' is a myth
A new exhibition claims Vincent Van Gogh’s mental illness hampered his work, rather than drove his singular vision – and presents fresh medical evidence about his notorious self-mutilationContinue...
View ArticleHoarders or collectors? Our frightened society has forgotten the difference
New York art show The Keeper celebrates our poetic obsession with objects, but how many of us simply surround ourselves with familiar, reassuring rubbish?Continue reading...
View ArticleRock's old masters: do Pink Floyd belong in a museum?
The V&A has announced its exhibition dedicated to the psychedelic jesters turned unhip stadium titans. Can they do another Bowie? Is it even art?Continue reading...
View ArticleDark arts: how night inspires great painters
Whether it’s the night terrors of Edvard Munch or the shadowy holy light of Dutch nativity scenes, northern European artists have long found their voice in the dark – as the Towner Art Gallery’s latest...
View ArticleMarcantonio Raimondi: the Renaissance printer who brought porn to Europe
In 1524 Raimondi, an engraver working with Raphael’s circle of sexual libertarians, printed I Modi – The Positions. These pornographic illustrations gave erotic art to the massesContinue reading...
View ArticleGod, sex or evolution – why did humans start making art?
A new Australian exhibition suggests art was first made to attract mates, signal dangers or mimic nature. But this reduces a mysterious impulse to a biological driveContinue reading...
View ArticleOur obsession with the natural world isn't about power – it's about love
Why do we get a kick out of looking at animals? We’re asserting our dominion over nature – but also trying to understand and preserve itContinue reading...
View ArticleFrom the Moomins to Asterix, picture books help build a better world
Do we buy picture books to relive our own childhoods? Perhaps, but the best have the power to inspire both children and adultsContinue reading...
View ArticleSebastiano: the forgotten Renaissance genius who swapped sex for God
The National Gallery is pairing Michelangelo with the lesser-known Sebastiano in its latest exhibition. So who is this artist who gave up debauched Venice for the Vatican – and why did he waste his...
View ArticleWelcome to the world's smallest art fair – on a disappearing speck of sand
The art at the Biennale de la Biche off Guadeloupe is set to disappear into the sea, thereby mirroring the futility and emptiness of elite events like Venice BiennaleContinue reading...
View ArticleWe cannot celebrate revolutionary Russian art – it is brutal propaganda
The Royal Academy is showcasing Russian art from the age of Lenin – but we must not overlook that his regime’s totalitarian violence rivalled nazismContinue reading...
View ArticleThe American art scene is dying of philistinism | Jonathan Jones
In the UK, the art scene’s ability to reconcile high culture and pop sensibilities is in stark contrast to the US, where a crisis in art galleries is growingContinue reading...
View ArticlePut away the gallery guides – art is best when shrouded in mystery
A new app, Smartify, allows you to point your phone at artworks and instantly know everything about them. But while facts can enrich enjoyment, it is the shock of the unknown that really makes art...
View Article