Beyond the Canvas
An art blog with opinions
 

‘M y aim was to create a group of figures engaged in unknown activities, intentionally leaving the situation ambiguous to the viewer. I...

Fourteen years before moving to the iconic Trafalgar Square location, the National Gallery opened its doors to the public on 10th May...

“The stigma attached to having been in jail for a woman is a very threatening one because of the idea of how dare her not be a good wife...

The tondo - from the Italian word for round, rotondo - is a circular painting or sculpture that became popular during the Italian...

They call it the Villa of the Masterpieces for good reason. The Fondazione Magnani-Rocca 's collection boasts a Titian of such sublime...

“I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg portrayed myself in appropriate colours aged twenty-eight years”. In painting himself like Christ the...

Being inside an empty museum at night might well be the ultimate art lover's fantasy. Apart from not having to share the space with herds...

“That is the archaeology I am unearthing: The spectre of police violence and state control over the bodies of young Black and Brown...

Current rabbit hole update: scandals and crimes in the art world, of which I am delighted to inform you there is an abundance of. One...

"The whiteness of meringue becomes for me of great poetic preoccupation; it's like snow, like frost ... like ... purity.'' - Wayne...

Whether it’s the first one or the latest of many, a visit to Florence’s Uffizi is bound to leave you breathless. Such are the quality and...

“I always use simple elements, I don’t want to add or subtract anything. I never even wanted to deform either: I isolate and I represent....

From the Wunderkammers of Renaissance to this day, the Global West has a museum for everything. From sex to death, from vaginas to...

Coming out of this extensive and excellent survey, you get a strong sense that Rego's work is an intoxicating blend of the political and...

At long last, my reading drought has come to an end. I am currently re-reading the original version of The Life Before Us written in 1975...

"I would like everyone to read, not so they become writers or poets, but so that no one is a slave anymore." - Gianni Rodari I recently...

Revered by the public, reviled by the art establishment and eventually sold at auction for almost £1m, the Mona Lisa of kitsch was...

“Who needs to NOT think of you as a Black artist to consider you a real artist?” - Kerry James Marshall There are a handful of artists...

"Political activity does not interfere with my work, it feeds it. And if I'm interested in racism and fighting racism, then that should...

The overwhelming dominance of Artemisia Gentileschi's personal narrative over her worth as an artist has always bothered me. The rape,...