Lee, Park Theatre review - Lee Krasner looks back on her life as an artist

 LEE, PARK THEATRE Earnest treatment of a substantial artist lacks excitement  

Informative and interesting, the play's format limits its potential

Like fellow New Yorker, Lee Miller, Lee Krasner changed her given name, the better to be accepted into what she called "The Boys Club" of 20th century Modern Art. Like Miller, she was known more for her working and romantic partnership with a major artist – for Man Ray, read Jackson Pollock.

BBC Proms: Kholodenko, BBCNOW, Otaka review - exhilarating Lutosławski, underwhelming Rachmaninov

★★★★ BBC PROMS: KHOLODENKO, BBCNOW, OTAKA Polish composers to the fore 

Polish composers to the fore in veteran conductor’s farewell

According to the programme, Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra is heard somewhere around the world every other week. In which case I’ve been unlucky in never having heard it live before, despite being a fan for nearly 30 years. So I was relieved that last night’s Prom’s outing – in Tadaaki Otaka’s farewell with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, after a 40 year collaboration – didn’t disappoint.

Kiefer / Van Gogh, Royal Academy review - a pairing of opposites

★★★ KIEFER / VAN GOGH, ROYAL ACADEMY A pairing of opposites

Small scale intensity meets large scale melodrama

When he was a callow youth of 18, German artist Anselm Keifer got a travel grant to follow in the footsteps of his idol, Vincent van Gogh. Some sixty years later, work by the two artists has been brought together at the Royal Academy in a show that highlights Van Gogh’s influence on his acolyte and invites you to compare and contrast.

Bradford City of Culture 2025 review - new magic conjured from past glories

★★★★ BRADFORD CITY OF CULTURE 2025 City, mill and moor inspire the city's visual arts offering

City, mill and moor inspire the city's visual arts offering

Botanical forms, lurid and bright, now tower above a footpath on a moor otherwise famed for darkness and frankly terrible weather. But the trio of 5m-high contemporary sculptures grow in place here, drawing life from limestone soil. These metallic buds, blooms and supersize tubers reflect a deep, tropical past that predates the very English landscape we now associate with this part of the world.

Vanessa Bell, MK Gallery review - diving into and out of abstraction

★★★★ VANESSA BELL, MK GALLERY The Bloomsbury artist breaks free from Victorian mores

A variation of styles as the Bloomsbury artist breaks free from Victorian mores

The Bloomsbury group’s habit of non-binary bed-hopping has frequently attracted more attention than the artworks they produced. But in their Vanessa Bell retrospective, the MK Gallery has steered blissfully clear of salacious tittle tattle. Thankfully, this allows one to focus on Bell’s paintings and designs rather than her complicated domestic life.

Art, Theatre Royal Bath review - Yasmina Reza's smash hit back on tour 30 years after Paris premiere

 ART, THEATRE ROYAL BATH Three men fall out over a painting in a very French comedy

Male friendships buckle as egos clash, with a resonance for today's culture wars

For men, navigating through life whilst maintaining strong friendships is not easy (I’m sure the same can be said for women, but Yasmina Reza’s multi-award winning play, revived on its 30th anniversary, is most definitely about men). What brings blokes together – work, sports, pubs – is seldom founded on deep emotional connections, though it can be and sometimes does morph into that.

First Person: Sophie Haydock on going beyond the grave

Sophie Haydock traces the ups and downs of securing a memorial for Adele Harms, subject of her debut novel, 'The Flames'

It was a cold day in Vienna when Egon Schiele was buried in the Ober-Sankt-Veit cemetery. He was just 28 years old.

Frida Kahlo Through Indian Classical Music, Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall review - a strangely effective meeting of cultures

Saudha Society of Poetry and Indian Music

Mexico's finest artist as interpreted by Indian classical musicians

This one sounded implausible. Frida Kahlo, the great (and fashionable – collected by the likes of Madonna) Mexican painter interpreted by Indian classical music at the Elgar Room in the Royal Albert Hall. It was, however, entrancing, made a curious sense, and was a different way of immersing yourself both in the music and paintings.

Maylis de Kerangal: Painting Time review - safer in simulation

★★★ MAYLIS DE KERANGAL: PAINTING TIME An ode to the art of trompe-l’œil is no more than the sum of its parts

An ode to the art of trompe-l’œil is no more than the sum of its parts

"Trompe-l’œil," explains the director of the Institut de Peinture in Brussels, “is the meeting of a painting and a gaze, conceived for a particular point of view, and defined by the effect it is supposed to produce”. In layman’s terms, it is the art of decorative painting, the technique of creating an optical illusion whereby a surface appears three-dimensional. It’s also the subject of this book.