Highlights
Art
Why did the Venice Biennale go soft on Russia?
Protests have rocked the so-called ‘Art Olympics’ over its decision to let Putin exercise soft power
The city that made Mark Rothko
A 1950 visit to Florence inspired the artist’s greatest work. Now he’s back in the places that changed him
Steve McQueen has released a book of flower photos – but it’s so much more than that
The Oscar-winner’s Bounty is a subversively beautiful work about the ugliness of colonialism
How the world finally caught up with Beatriz González
The subversive artist was told her work would never travel beyond Colombia – now it tours the planet
The secrets of the painter who made cloth come alive
Francisco de Zurbarán’s family earned their fortune from textiles – and he earned his reputation on painting the robes of saints and martyrs
The state should subsidise creatives – it works in Ireland, and kept me going in lockdown
The Irish gave 2,000 artists £283 a week, and more than recouped the cost of the scheme. Why not try it here?
Books
How Moscow became the loneliest big city in the world
A capital built and rebuilt by dreamers, schemers and evildoers has gone from squalor to a hollowed-out paradise
Howard Jacobson’s novel on British antisemitism is bold, funny – and sadly timely
Howl dials down the tirades for sorrowful soul-searching and reasoned debate
The hate she gets: Angie Thomas and the book the radical right want to ban
The US author’s best-selling The Hate U Give is being removed from school libraries in America – and now in Britain too
Steve McQueen has released a book of flower photos – but it’s so much more than that
The Oscar-winner’s Bounty is a subversively beautiful work about the ugliness of colonialism
What would happen if Farage got into No 10? It’s even worse than you think
A new book predicts migrant riots, Brexit wars and a dismantled BBC – and none of it feels outlandish
What if Thatcher had been assassinated?
A stage adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s book about an killer and the Tory PM questions both violent rhetoric and violence itself
Music
How Rosalía put on the best show of the year
Her blend of pop, opera, goth, techno and Catholicism, performed in over a dozen languages, requires a huge effort of will to hold it all together. She was more than up to the task
Laibach and the year’s most subversive album
The Slovenian band used to satirise dictators. Now their targets are tech bros and algorithm-controlled music
What two musician brothers from Carlisle can teach JD Vance about Ukraine
If the VP ever becomes president, there is truly no hope for America
Build an explosive floating wall in the middle of the Channel, says former Mumford man Winston Marshall
The son of GB News co-owner Paul Marshall has developed a solution to the small boats problem: laying mines in the world’s busiest shipping lane
The new Michael Jackson biopic is worse than bad – it’s dangerous
‘Michael’ avoids the claims of child abuse by the King of Pop – and falls into the same old cliches
‘I hate shit’: Inside the Sex Pistols interview that invented punk
Fifty years ago, writer John Ingham was chatting to three musicians. Then their singer Johnny Rotten opened his mouth, and everything changed
Film
Kokuho, the dazzling, savage Japanese epic you must not miss
Lee Sang-il’s remarkable film charts the cost of being a national treasure
Our Land and a very polite class war
The documentary that asks: who owns the ground beneath our feet?
The night before Spielberg, Lucas and Coppola took over Hollywood
A new book details how three friends invented a new American cinema – then created the blockbusters that destroyed it
A writer’s obsession with the Alain Delon murder mystery
Edward Chisholm’s first book was so good I’m making a movie of it. The second is even better
The new Michael Jackson biopic is worse than bad – it’s dangerous
‘Michael’ avoids the claims of child abuse by the King of Pop – and falls into the same old cliches
The woman behind Mary Poppins hated the Disney classic – and this is why
PL Travers told Walt Disney to throw out the animation and that Julie Andrews was too pretty for the role
Theatre
What if Thatcher had been assassinated?
A stage adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s book about an killer and the Tory PM questions both violent rhetoric and violence itself
Has Jacob Rees-Mogg really been banned from ‘woke’ theatres?
The former cabinet minster moans theatres won’t stage his one-man show because they’re woke. Might it be because they’d struggle to sell tickets?
The chaotic magic of Rebecca Lucy Taylor
The singer also known as Self Esteem is phenomenal as she follows revival in a revival of David Hare’s Teeth ’n’ Smiles
Review: Summerfolk at the National turns Gorky sweary – it’s trying far too hard
Four-letter words and modern slang are meant to make this revival accessible, but something has been lost as a result
Review: The Beekeeper of Aleppo is the wrong show at the right time
A flawed play makes a timely point – we shouldn’t complain about refugees when we help to create them
Quentin Tarantino is back… sigh
The foul-mouthed vinyl-botherer is leaving cinema behind to bring a “swashbuckling comedy” to London’s West End
Great Lives
Tenzing Norgay and the Everest question that wouldn’t go away
Once the world’s tallest mountain had been scaled, they all wanted to know: Who stepped on the summit first?
The race that made Ayrton Senna
At Monaco 1984, the Brazilian announced himself as a legend – but a decade later, he was gone
The woman behind Mary Poppins hated the Disney classic – and this is why
PL Travers told Walt Disney to throw out the animation and that Julie Andrews was too pretty for the role
The night that Purple Rain broke Prince
A performance in Japan meant the end of the Revolution – and began a new chapter in the life of an eccentric genius
Kazuo Shiraga, the Japanese artist who turned painting into violence
The abstract painter wanted to make art like he was ‘rushing through a battlefield’ – so he started using his feet as brushes
Billy Wilder, the outsider who understood the American soul
The exiled writer/director knew that audiences really wanted empathy from Hollywood, not glamour