Today’s highlights
Art
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
When paint went mad
Celebrating Roger Fry, the curator whose early exhibitions of post-impressionist art shocked the critics
Books
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
Everything you know about inflation is wrong
The hammer of high interest rates is no longer the way to deal with pressure on prices
The Tory MP who inherited a crime scene
Richard Drax’s family built their riches on Barbados’s most infamous plantation. He says it’s all just history
Why ABBA still eludes us
Serious books are being written about the pop icons. But do we risk letting light in on the magic?
The rise of bombs: how physics lost its innocence
How did an inquiry into the laws of nature produce a form of technology capable of annihilating civilisation?
Music
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
Why ABBA still eludes us
Serious books are being written about the pop icons. But do we risk letting light in on the magic?
The Eurovision troll contest
Estonian Tommy Cash’s Espresso Macchiato mocks Italians. Is he a prankster, or a racist?
Eurovision’s performers without borders
A Finnish comedy trio are among the bookies’ favourites to win the song contest… for Sweden
Eddie Barclay, the man who invented showbiz
A force of nature, Barclay was a boulevardier who made music and love with equal enthusiasm
Film
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?
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
No, Greta Garbo didn’t want to be alone
She had nowhere to hide but, as both documentary and book are at pains to point out, just because she wanted to be alone it did not necessarily mean she shunned personal contact
Richard Linklater and the new wave of new wave
The American indie stalwart’s latest film tells the story of the making of another: Jean-Luc Godard’s À bout de souffle
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