Hyperbole surrounds the Impressionists, who are perennial blockbuster fodder. In truth, they were not a united group of radicals and their subject matter is far darker than commonly acknowledged.
Changes to superannuation legislation have had a cooling effect on arts investment in recent years. Image: An old bee farm (c. 1900) by Clara Southern.
National Gallery of Victoria
Don’t blame the global financial crisis. The Australian art market has performed poorly over the last decade - but there is plenty of growth potential.
Mella Jaarsma, The landscaper 2013, costume: wood, paint, iron and leather, single-channel video: 3:40 minutes, colour, sound.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Purchased 2018. Photo by Mie Cornoedus
The exhibition Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia has many wonderful works. But it is an exception - despite our close proximity, there are few opportunities for Australians to engage with Indonesian art.
A painting titled The Bridge Over the Waterlily Pond by Claude Monet.
AAP/National Gallery of Victoria
Bees can pick up unique characteristics in paintings by zipping quickly back and forth in front of them to detect abrupt changes in the brightness of an image.
All of the big names are present in this show – from Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo to Roy Lichtenstein and Cindy Sherman – and represented by some of their best-known work.
Tony Albert Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku Yalanji peoples. Australia Qld/NSW b.1981.
Mid Century Modern (series) 2016
Pigment prints | 24 works: 100 x 100cm (each)
Collection: The artist. Courtesy: Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney
While the female nude is valorised in fine art, real women’s nakedness still attracts social punishment. From sexting to concerns over public breastfeeding, ours is an uncomfortable relationship with the fleshy body.