Some time ago, my partner Colin asked me why I hadn’t yet written a post about Francis Bacon. Not only is he my favourite painter, but I know quite a lot about him thanks to spending a year and half of my Masters degree studying his life and work, and devoting my MA project to him. I said to Colin that…

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of visiting the National Gallery to see the Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900 exhibition. I was also very surprised to read devastating reviews of the exhibition on both the Guardian and the Evening Standard websites and a slightly more favourable, yet still very critical, review on the Telegraph website. All three reviewers…

Painting sex in the East Yesterday I went to the Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art exhibition at the British Museum. Translated literally, the word shunga means spring pictures (apparently “spring” is a euphemism for sex) and refers to erotic colour prints, painted hand-scrolls and printed books made between 1600 and 1900 in Japan. Despite a few periods of…