Reviews Archive

Vincent van Gogh's Snow-Covered Field with a Harrow (after Millet).

Review

In Van Gogh’s footsteps

Anselm Kiefer set out to pay homage to Vincent Van Gogh, but his vast, scorched canvases tell a much darker story than those of his troubled hero, in an uneven exhibition exploring..

Alexandra Wilson July 4, 2025

Portrait of Ithell Colquhoun holding a bundle of a wheat taken by Man Ray

Review

Ithell Colquhoun and Edward Burra’s visions of a fragile world

A new retrospective of 20th-century artists Ithell Colquhoun and Edward Burra reveals how their strange, radical visions were deeply attuned to the unease and upheaval of the postw..

Saffron Swire June 25, 2025

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary at Gough Square, London.

Review

Samuel Johnson’s last word

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary was the most significant cultural achievement of the 18th century, a landmark work of great skill, effort and erudition.

Malcolm Forbes June 23, 2025

From illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy by William Blake.

Review

Under the spell of William Blake

William Blake, the poet-painter who created a mythology all his own, is also the central figure in biographer Philip Hoare’s private cosmos. Such a personal obsession is a major fl..

Michael Prodger June 17, 2025

Review

How Mitrokhin waged war from the archives

The KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin's painstaking records of the Soviet Union's espionage activities offer insights that are just as relevant now as when they were first released 35 ..

Gill Bennett June 16, 2025

King Edward II is shown the severed head of Piers Gaveston in a 19th century illustration by James William Edmund Doyle.

Review

England’s time of troubles

Helen Carr’s compelling account of 14th-century England retells a familiar story with style. Yet it also provides a keen sense of the humanity of those who experienced this turbule..

Katherine Harvey June 12, 2025

A depiction of the 1903 Delhi Durbar in Le Petit Journal, a contemporary Parisian newspaper.

Review

How to save imperial history

Two popular histories of the British empire combine compelling storytelling with scholarly judgment, showing how historians can handle morally complex subjects with flair, nuance a..

Samuel Rubinstein June 9, 2025

Review

Cecil Beaton’s gardens of Eden

A new exhibition foregrounds the enduring role of flowers in the life of the photographer Cecil Beaton, and how they cross-pollinated their way into his creative imagination.

Saffron Swire June 2, 2025

The Chariot of Apollo by Odilon Redon (1840-1916).

Review

Poetry for the common reader

The American poet Dana Gioia writes for the public, a vanishingly rare trait.

Jaspreet Singh Boparai May 29, 2025