Exhibition of the week
British Baroque: Power and Illusion
From domes in the sky to Peter Lely’s paintings of Nell Gwynn, there was a new artistic energy in Restoration Britain.
• Tate Britain, London, from 4 February to 19 April.
Also showing
Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium
Cecily Brown, Michael Armitage and Ryan Mosley are among the painters in this provocative survey.
• Whitechapel Gallery, London, from 6 February to 10 May.
Larry Achiampong
Meditations on the African diaspora in film, sound and sculpture that mix mythology and childhood memory.
• John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, until 21 March.
Marc Bauer
Drawings inspired by Hokusai and Géricault bring the perils of the sea into the gallery.
• De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, from 1 February to 10 May.
Katherina Radeva
This Bulgarian-born artist and theatre designer shows works that evolved out of a performance.
• Summerhall, Edinburgh, from 1 February until 1 March.
Image of the week
The stupendous restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece, and the magnificent exhibition nearby, confirm Van Eyck as a painting colossus. Get yourself to Belgium! Read the review.
What we learned
Today’s top architects are being employed by repressive despots
Smash and grab thieves take Salvador Dalí art from Swedish gallery
Ai Weiwei is doing a Guardian interview – send us your questions now
Times New Roman has gone viral
A row over Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi erupts in the London Review of Books
Blockbuster shows “limit chances for minority artists” says study
Film-maker and artist Steve McQueen is still angry
Arts Council England can still be rescued from elitism …
… as its new strategy aims to foster culture in every “village, town and city”
When film-makers need the best props, they go to Welsh artist Annie Atkins
Kingston University’s new library and dance centre is a welcome sight …
… where students can find books – and romance
A striking Royal Academy show exhibits Picasso’s sacred relics
Tate Britain is hiring a “head of coffee” on £40k
Kobe Bryant has been honoured in mural form
Swiss artist Claudia Andujar fought for Brazil’s Yanomami tribe
Wolfgang Strassl is capturing people two feet underground in London
Kehinde Wiley painted Obama and was inspired by William Morris
Mary Beard offers a female perspective on nude art
A new documentary charts the life of the man who shot the Beatles’ final gig
After years of designs, Sydney Opera House is getting a $150m fix
Photographer Nancy Newberry is reimagining the spaghetti western in Texas
Ab Rogers has turned a hospital car park into a rhapsody of red
Lewis Carroll’s anarchic Alice books have been brought to musical life
Textiles are at the heart of a tangled, teasing show in London
Masterpiece of the week
A Dutch Ship and Other Vessels in a Breeze, 1658, by Willem van de Velde
The Dutch navy sailed up the Medway and attacked Chatham in 1667 – sorry to spoil Brexit day, but we haven’t always ruled the seas. This painting reflects an age when Dutch sea power – and, hence, commerce – dominated. As Tate Britain unveils a show on 17th-century British art, it’s fascinating to note how we took our perceptions of the sea from Dutch painters. Van de Velde studies the oppressive clouds and iron sea with a cool, precise eye that must have pleased mariners and merchants who admired his realism – and bought it by the herring barrel. The Dutch marine art boom sailed over to Britain, too, and sea pieces like this can still be seen in bulk at the National Gallery, along with the works of JMW Turner that make the oceans English.
• National Gallery, London.
Don’t forget
To follow us on Twitter: @GdnArtandDesign.
Sign up to the Art Weekly newsletter
If you don’t already receive our regular roundup of art and design news via email, please sign up here.
