Today’s highlights
Art
Can you ever truly understand an artist?
Meeting the painter Sean Scully was an opportunity to ask him about his art – but do the questions make any sense?
Luc Tuymans, the angry artist who went to church
The Belgian is – temporarily – replacing Tintoretto in one of the Venice’s sacred spaces. But first he wants to talk about Trump
Saint Phalle and Tinguely, the couple who taught art to explode
Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely turned machines and myths into joyful rebellion
Steve McQueen and the art of resistance
A collection of images curated by the director tells the story of protest and resistance in Britain. But who wins and who loses is only part of the story
Arts lessons from the Dutch Old Masters
A major exhibition in Amsterdam underscores art’s enduring power to connect cultures and bridge political divides
Dafi Kühne is not the usual type
Poster genius Dafi Kühne’s hands-on approach and playful designs create a singular vision
Books
Sarah Vine: the secret remainer
Her nasty new book contains one interesting point – funny the Daily Mail chose to ignore it
March of the symbolic capitalists
American sociologist Musa al-Gharbi thinks woke protesters are sincere – but they’re equally committed to being wealthy
The curious case of Gen Z’s Handmaid’s Tale
Thirty years after it was first published to indifference, Jacqueline Harpman’s I Who Have Never Known Men is a literary sensation
Is Elon Musk a genius – or an idiot?
A new book suggests that we should appreciate flashes of genius without believing that they make a person uniquely special
Jorge Luis Borges, a doppelganger in Buenos Aires
The writer shared a deep, collaborative friendship with his kindred spirit Adolfo Bioy Casares, who became his literary double
When Europe fell for the New World’s seductive power
From the Pilgrims to Star Trek, every promised land ends up looking suspiciously like the one we left behind
Music
Kneecap have their day in court
The British establishment has given the Irish rap group the two greatest gifts of all: legal trouble and a moral panic
Nerd’s Eye View: 16 things you need to know about Glastonbury
Digging into the details and data to separate the noise from the news
Morrissey wants the one he can’t have
The former Smiths man wanted to work with Nick Cave – but put him off with a ‘slightly silly anti-woke screed’
Brian Wilson, the president and the end of California
The Beach Boy is gone – and as Trump’s troops stalk LA, the state’s sun-drenched dream is over too
What Britain is throwing away
You used to be the coolest Europeans, with the best music and culture. But cutting back the British Council and the World Service will only make you smaller on the world stage
The joy of the gig getaway
An older generation of music fans are putting concerts by old favourites at the heart of their city breaks
Film
Peter Falk, the TV cop a with a lifelong affinity with the underdog
Losing an eye at the age of just three, his misfortune bred in him a fearlessness and restlessness
Fleeing fascist America, starring Richard Gere
Gere is no fan of Trump or America’s current political climate. So, like an increasing number of US citizens, he left for Europe
Tornado is exactly the film we’ve been waiting for
John Maclean’s spaghetti western samurai film set in late 18th-century Britain is another example of how the director’s eclecticism defies categorisation
Toilet humour goes to Hollywood
The movies used to belong to auteurs. Now the industry is mining viral meme content like Skibidi Toilet for new ideas
Ana de Armas’s new licence to kill
Ballerina is a smart and stylish John Wick universe detour that weaponises grace
Tom Cruise, the Nietzschean Superman
The Mission: Impossible films show a man who bends the chaos of the world to his will and saves humanity. But what would Friedrich make of it all?
Theatre
Mountainhead is a whip-smart dystopian comedy
Jesse Armstrong’s return as writer and director of this feature-length drama has been giddily anticipated. And it does not disappoint
Imelda Staunton and Jenny Seagrove, the great pretenders
Two of our British theatre’s finest are outstanding in Mrs Warren’s Profession and The Anastasia File
Corny country musical Shucked is no Book of Mormon
The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s US hit is a sub-prime Oklahoma
Why you must see The Fifth Step
Jack Lowden and Martin Freeman are whip-smart in this theatrical display of profundity, humour and compassion
Why did they bother with this mis-shaped monument to Sondheim?
The posthumously completed Here We Go has no songs, no story and no reason to be on stage
Riefenstahl is forensic film-making at its very best
Andres Veiel’s magnificent documentary lets Riefenstahl, in her interviews, recordings and archived files, speak for herself
Great Lives
Jorge Luis Borges, a doppelganger in Buenos Aires
The writer shared a deep, collaborative friendship with his kindred spirit Adolfo Bioy Casares, who became his literary double
Jack Johnson, the boxer who thrived as the world exploded around him
His life took him from the blood-stained cellars of Texas to a place in the sporting pantheon
Geneviève de Galard, the reluctant Angel of Dien Bien Phu
The modest aristocrat was perhaps aware that she wasn’t the only woman who went the extra mile in the jungles of Indochina
Robert Capa, the photographer who couldn’t resist the lure of the battlefield
The Japanese invasion of China, the D-day landings, the founding of Israel – no war was too small for Capa, no battlefield too bloody
Raoul Lufbery, the Frenchman who became America’s greatest aviator
Mocked for speaking English with a Clouseau-esque accent, Lufbery’s time in American fatigues saw him become a wartime legend
Eddie Barclay, the man who invented showbiz
A force of nature, Barclay was a boulevardier who made music and love with equal enthusiasm