Tabish Khan, the @LondonArtCritic, picks his top museum exhibitions to see in December. If you’re after more shows, check out last week’s top 5 shows which are all still open.
Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers @ The National Gallery
There’s a reason this exhibition is the hot ticket in town. It unites masterpieces like Starry Night, two versions of his Sunflowers, his chair and his bedroom in the sanatorium at St. Remy where he spent his final years. Plus there are works I’d never seen before – stevedores silhouetted against a blazing sunset, lovers walking through a park where you can almost reach out and touch the flowers and a portrait of a local man whose blue-green beard and yellow face look surreal. Until 19th January, ticketed.
The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998 @ Barbican Art Gallery
Through painting, photography, textiles and video it covers the important years of 1975–1998 in India’s history including political upheaval, religious persecution, the horrific Bhopal chemical spill and so much more that’s less known in the Western World. It’s a dense, informative, and important exhibition.
Until 5th January, ticketed.
Fragile Beauty: Photos from Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection @ V&A
There’s impressive photography on every wall at this exhibition including a man covered in bees and famous men in tears, to powerful imagery on race, North Korea and 9/11. It’s filled with iconic and dramatic photography and shows the impressive quality and breadth of this collection.
Until 5th January, ticketed.
Money Talks: Art, Society, Power @ Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Money and art have always been linked as record-breaking auction headlines for Picasso and Rembrandt regularly remind us. But what about the artists who incorporate money into their work including an oversized banknote by Grayson Perry that provides incisive commentary on British society to Meschac Gaba’s ‘stall’ of hanging banknotes that reflect on its colonialist legacies but also his value as an African artist. This exhibition showcases diverse practices around what’s valued in art and the wider world in a well-curated exhibition. Until 5th January, ticketed.
Jason and the Adventure of 254 @ Wellcome Collection
This is about as colourful and joyful an exhibition as you’ll see. Jason Wilsher-Mills was confined to a bed due to an autoimmune condition when he was eleven and he’s turned this into an exhibition about what was happening inside and outside of his body – from a giant body lying in bed, to a model of Sebastian Coe with a television for his head. He’s taken a difficult time in his life and turned it into a celebration of his memories in a playful exhibition. Until 12th January, free.
Van Gogh image: © The Art Institute of Chicago. Barbican image copyright Eva Herzog Studio / Barbican Art Gallery. Fragile Beauty image copyright V&A. Ashmolean image Copyright Guerilla Girls and Tate. Wellcome image copyright Wellcome Collection.
