Dazzled by Art

Say ‘bonjour’ to some serious holiday inspo. Head off the beaten path this summer to one of our lesser-known French favourites (Picture: Getty Images) From glamorous beaches, to beautiful cities and the world’s best restaurants, France has it all. It’s no surprise then, that the European favourite is the most visited country in the world, and the second most popular for British travellers. Coming in second after Spain, latest figures show an estimated 9.2 million Brits flock to France every year. However, the country is feeling the effects of overtourism. In October 2024, Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister, suggested placing a surcharge on tickets to popular attractions for non-EU nationals, including the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles, and the Musée d’Orsay. And in 2022, the Calanques National Park near Marseilles, which is known for its picturesque beauty, introduced a policy limiting visitor numbers to 400 per day at Sugiton Cove to allow the flora and fauna in the area to...

Can you ranking the big birds of commercial aviation in some sort of order? Which aircraft would make the list, and how would they stack up? Here’s our top 10. The loss of American Airlines Flight 191 on May 25 1979, when a DC-10’s left-wing engine detached during take-off from Chicago’s O’Hare International – leading to a crash less than a mile beyond the runway, with a total loss of life (258 passengers and 13 crew, plus two unfortunate bystanders on the ground). Photos of the last moments show the stricken plane flying on its side, the pilots struggling for control. Over 40 years later, the 273 fatalities still rank as the worst air disaster on American soil. Finest moment Its recovery from this tragedy. An understandable loss of confidence saw orders for the DC-10 slump in the early 1980s, but after modifications, it became one of America’s most trusted aircraft. It out-lived its parent company (McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997), and was still part of the Biman Bangl...

Her designs resist imitation. Her buildings whisper resilience. Mariam Issoufou is giving tradition a powerful, modern voice Mariam Issoufou’s architecture is distinct. Perhaps because it looks so familiar yet so unusual at the same time. A wall might be made of compressed earth but curve like concrete. A window might be shaped like an arch you once saw in a medieval city, or a village courtyard or both. Her buildings carry the weight of memory and the clarity of invention. They seem to belong as much to the past as they do to a future — not yet fully realised, straddling the realm between imagination, antiquity and reality. There is a kind of silence to her structures. The kind that settles over a space when it has been designed with care and patience. In Dandaji — a village on the arid western plains of her home country, Niger — a library stands beside a mosque and both are built of earth pulled from the ground just metres away. It doesn’t feel symbolic. It feels natural. As if th...

This historic hotspot is packed with indie shops, biking trails and is home to the only restaurant in Wales with two Michelin stars. The Market town of Machynlleth, affectionately known as "Mach" to locals, is a historic hotspot packed with indie shops, forested biking trails and is home to the only restaurant in Wales with two Michelin stars, Ynyshir. Located in the Dyfi Valley, this small, forward-thinking town was formally the seat of Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh Parliament in 1404 and is often cited as the "ancient capital of ales." It also holds the accolade of being one of only two UNESCO Biosphere Reserve sites in the UK. Despite its small size, Mach has an impressive number of independent retailers; you won't find a Starbucks or a Tesco here. Instead, you can buy books, clothes and antiques from local businesses and get unique items to take home. Outside of shopping, there's plenty to do and see in Mach, from outdoor pursuits to destination dining,...

Less obvious cities are on this list of cultural hotspots, alongside unmissable artistic centers like London and Paris. If you’re looking for the ideal cultural getaway in 2025, here are ten cities, including some lesser known gems to explore. No matter where you travel in Europe you’ll find fascinating history, exceptional art and memorable cultural experiences. Whether you’re into ancient architecture or modern museums, these cities provide the ideal backdrop for an enjoyable and enriching break. 1.Craiova, Romania The Palace of Craiova, Romania Although less known (and visited) than Bucharest, the capital, Craiova, in southwestern Romania, is a cultural hotspot with numerous events throughout the year, including the Shakespeare Festival, the world’s largest international festival dedicated to the playwright. For electronic dance music lovers, the IntenCity Festival is every June with open-air performances. And a more unusual event, Puppets Occupy Street Festival in August, involv...

Born in South Africa to a Jewish father and an Anglican mother, David Kohn brings his eclectic life experience into his work Modern Art Oxford has been delighting gallery-goers since its November reopening for its architecture as well as its art. The former brewery storehouse has revealed its industrial heritage, with dark grey paint stripped from the walls to reveal the original bricks. At the entrance, seven steps take visitors slightly above street level, reflecting the reception area’s history as a loading bay. Together with a shop and café, the ground floor community gallery creates a dialogue between locals, the major artists on show in the upper main exhibition space, and the gallery itself. “Galleries are significant public spaces. It isn’t exclusively about experiencing great art. There should also be public meeting and encounter spaces where you might reflect on what you are seeing,” says David Kohn, the architect behind the transformation. The refurbished Modern Art Oxfor...

“Raymond Saunders: Flowers from a Black Garden” can be seen at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh through July 13, 2025. Raymond Saunders, 'Celeste Age 5 Invited Me to Tea,' 1986. Collection of Jill and Peter Kraus, © 2025, Estate of Raymond Saunders. All rights reserved Estate of Raymond Saunders. All rights reserved Visitors to the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh are forgiven for not knowing the name Raymond Saunders (b. 1934). Eric Crosby, the museum’s director, was unfamiliar with Saunders when Crosby relocated to Pittsburgh for a curatorial job at the Carnegie in 2015, and he’s devoted his entire professional career to contemporary American art. Saunders is hardly an unknown or a recent “discovery,” however. He was awarded a Rome Prize Fellowship in 1964, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1976, and is a two-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Awards (1977, 1984). Saunders’ paintings are in the permanent collections of the nation’s finest institutio...

Women Artists Push Boundaries of Art with solo exhibitions at ARKEN Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Danish artist prodigy Eva Helene Pade and French artist Margeurite Humeau present first exhibitions in Scandinavia. Eva Helene Pade, Arken, 2024. Photography Petra Kleis © Petra Kleis Eva Helen Pade is only in her third decade on the planet, yet she possesses a prodigious artistic talent that has earned her a solo museum exhibition only a year after graduating from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Forårsofret (The Rite of Spring) is Pade’s first museum show and her inaugural solo exhibition. The rise of Eva Helen Pade (b.1997) has been stratospheric, and Curator Rasmus Stenbakken describes the humanity and emotional depth of her new paintings at ARKEN Museum: “The artworks featured in Forårsofret constitute a new development in Eva Helene Pade’s ongoing exploration of human emotions and human narratives through painting.” Pade’s inspiration for Forårsofret is Igor Stravinsk...

The Throbbing Gristle musician and writer answers your questions on everything from squat life to societal outrage and the best music for striptease Your ultra-radical art projects during the COUM Transmissions era [in the 1970s] shattered every conceivable boundary – from the ethical to the bodily. Even now, viewed through the lens of history, it feels as though you broke through everything that could be broken, before crossing over into pop culture. Has society become any freer? Has art become any less commodified? Dmitry_S I think it has become more commodified. Nothing comes to my attention that would make me think that art has become anything other than a business. That’s down to people wanting a career. I can understand that in today’s economic climate, as opposed to in the 70s, where there was nothing – you could squat or get very low rent, so you just did what you wanted. You don’t have those opportunities now. But I think about art being about self-expression before thinking:...