Seurat's Eerie Seaside and Gailhoustet's Eco-Brutalism: This Week in Art
Georges Seurat's The Channel at Gravelines, Petit-Fort Philippe, painted in 1890, offers a disconcerting departure from the cheerful impressionism typically associated with 19th-century French seaside scenes. This modernist masterpiece, currently on display at the Courtauld Gallery in London until 17 May, presents eerie shores that absorb viewers with their haunting beauty.
Exhibition of the Week: Seurat and the Sea
If you believed French 19th-century paintings of the seaside were all about happy impressionism, prepare to be unsettled. Seurat's modernist shores in Seurat and the Sea at the Courtauld Gallery provide a stark contrast, drawing visitors into a world of eerie coastal landscapes that challenge traditional perceptions.
Also Showing This Week
- Delaine Le Bas: Un-Fair-Ground at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester until 31 May, features a mural created for Glastonbury, presenting a folkloric vision of contemporary Britain.
- Yinka Shonibare at The Arc, Winchester from 14 February to 3 June, uses irony and wit to explore global history and critique empire.
- Sean Scully at Lisson Gallery, London from 18 February to 9 May, reveals the secret source of his abstract art through photographs of Ireland's mysterious landscapes.
- Jamie Mills: A Firework for Vincent at Anima Mundi, St Ives until 22 March, showcases sculptures evoking Robert Rauschenberg and the Cornish landscape.
Image of the Week: Renée Gailhoustet's Eco-Brutalist Legacy
The French architect Renée Gailhoustet, who once had her nose broken by Jean-Marie Le Pen, designed eco-brutalist apartment blocks with cascading terraces that appear to surrender to nature. Her social housing block Le Liégat, completed in 1982, remains beloved by residents. When she died in 2023, they erected a large handmade sign reading: "Merci Renée." An exhibition dedicated to her work is currently on display in London.
What We Learned This Week
- A court battle over a Picasso painting exposed the offshore finances of Nigel Farage's billionaire Davos sponsor.
- Ai Weiwei fearlessly returned to China on a momentous trip to visit his mother.
- Cherie Blair's brief modeling stint for exhausting artist Euan Uglow was short-lived.
- Claims that "Only women can paint great female nudes" sparked debate.
- AI analysis cast doubt on the attribution of two works to Jan van Eyck.
- Plans for a grandiose "Arc de Trump" in Washington were described as going "full Roman."
- London's Southbank Centre received a Grade II-listing, vindicating its brutalist architecture.
- Lucian Freud's paintings are celebrated, while his drawings are criticized as terrible.
- A Rembrandt lion drawing raised $18 million for big cat conservation efforts.
- The "Lowry effect" is rejuvenating Salford and Manchester through cultural revival.
Masterpiece of the Week: A Caprice With a Ruined Arch by Francesco Guardi
Francesco Guardi's painting from around 1775, displayed at the National Gallery in London, explores the fascination with ruins. In the 18th century, attitudes shifted, and broken old buildings were cherished as atmospheric, picturesque wonders. Guardi invents a crumbled medieval abbey or palace, inviting viewers to imagine its glorious past while savoring the melancholy beauty of its decay. This work highlights how entropy and the decay of order into chaos resonate through art and physics.
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