RICHARD MURGATROYD enjoys a readable account of the life and meditations of one of the few Roman emperors with a good reputation
How scientific advances ushered in one of the best known periods in European painting
Michal Boncza on Impressionism, one of the most enduring instantly recognisable periods in art
(Left) Impression, Sunrise, 1874; (right) La rue Saint Denis - street festivities of 30 June 1878, Paris
ALEX HALL asks whether intelligence, and stupidity, are the outcomes of poverty and wealth, and cultural norms
BRENT CUTLER is persuaded by a new account of the rise of Christianity, and the fall of the Roman empire
If non-human nature is devoid of value under the capitalist mode of production, this book presents the case for its reintegration, suggests HENRY BELL
The Bard takes issue with a BBC portrait of The Balkans, and sets the record straight
ANGUS REID urges you to visit Britain’s most remarkable - and mind-blowing - festival of contemporary music
MARIA DUARTE reviews Desperate Journey, Blue Moon, Pillion, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
IN 1874, three years after the bloody and traumatic demise of the Paris Commune, Claude Monet — son of a Parisian greengrocer — showed his work at group exhibition in Paris of like-minded painters.
His canvas, laconically titled Impression, Sunrise, depicts in swift and almost off-hand brush strokes the hazy view of the port of his adopted city Le Havre, as seen from his window at a dawn enveloped by dense fog.
The canvas's title provided the Le Charivary magazine’s art critic Louis Leroy's with the headline “The Exhibition of the Impressionists” for the review — not particularly imaginative, except for the neologism “impressionists.” It stuck like glue.
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While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
GORDON PARSONS recommends the biography of the German polymath whose life provides an interesting take on a revolutionary age
RINA ARYA confronts the brutal operation of Francis Bacon’s approach to portraiture