★★★★★: Belgium, land of beer, chocolate, charming medieval towns and cosy city breaks. If this is your idea of the diminutive Benelux nation then Léon Spilliaert is here to make you think again. Prepare to be drawn into an intoxicating world of insomniac melancholy that will forever change the way you see the home of Tintin and waffles.
★★★★☆: Works on paper can often be seen as room-filler when a gallery can’t quite muster enough ‘proper works’, paintings and sculptures, to fill their space. They are normally objects that exist primarily in the realm of art historians, tools for them to unlock the secrets of an artist’s grander works. However, in the eternal struggle to find an original angle on that godfather of modernism, Pablo Picasso, the RA have dedicated an enormous show just for his works on and using paper.
★★★★★: In these days of uncertainty and crisis, it is refreshing to find a show that explodes with quite so much joy and optimism as this display of modernist British prints at Dulwich. Springing forth from the anxiety ridden 1930’s, the bright colours and geometric forms of these works speak of new hope for a twentieth century Britain and make this exhibition one of the must-see shows of 2019.
Morgan Haigh 