Exhibition of the Week
Inventing Impressionism
This exhibition explores the rise of the first modern art movement through the unusual perspective of the way it was marketed by pioneering art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. It’s the beginning of the art world as we know it.
National Gallery, London, from 4 March until 31 May.
Other exhibitions this week
Leonora Carrington
The surrealist movement was one of the first to fully unleash women as artists, and Carrington’s paintings are a window on its mythologies and dreams.
Tate Liverpool from 6 March until 31 May.
Alex Katz
A superb group of new Black Paintings by this magical artist.
Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, from 28 February until 2 April.
Mehdi Ghadyanloo
The first British exhibition, in the gallery and on the streets, for the Banksy of Tehran.
Howard Griffin Gallery, London, from 26 February until 2 April.
Cathy Wilkes
A contemporary surrealist of everyday stuff complements Tate Liverpool’s historical show of surrealist painting.
Tate Liverpool from 6 March until 31 May.
Masterpiece of the week
Maqsud Kashani – The Arbadil Carpet (1539-40 AD: Islamic calendar 946)
One of the V&A’s great treasures, this is the oldest-dated carpet in the world. It is also one of the biggest and most stupendously beautiful, an intricate abstract masterpiece. It was made in 16th century Iran and signed by Maqsud Kashani, who describes himself in his inscription as “the slave of the portal”.
V&A, London SW7
Image of the week
What we learned this week
The artistic feats that can be achieved with facial hair, a Slinky and some dried spaghetti
That Banksy has been back to Gaza
Meanwhile...we met Tehran’s answer to Banksy
We got a first glimpse of the wild designs being proposed for a new bridge across the Thames
About the women making art out of murder scenes
Revealed: the artist distributing hand-drawn copies of the Guardian