Previous Posts: May 2025

The painting reprises themes from an extraordinary group of four large-scale paintings that de Heem executed earlier in the decade, but with greater refinement of execution, perhaps in part due to its more manageable scale. Two of these paintings are today at the Louvre (inv. no. 1321) and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (inv. no. K 1878/5). A third is in a private collection, and the fourth was sold for a world auction record at Christie's in London on 15 December 2020. Much like the present painting, the variety of textures and sheer number of expensive foods and objects the artist managed to compose within a relatively tight pictorial space offers the viewer an example of virtually everything de Heem was capable of and perhaps served as a calling card to display the range of his abilities.

This is the first major exhibition dedicated to the artistic exchange between French Impressionists Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Berthe Morisot (1841–1895). Manet was the era’s great pioneer of modern painting, and Morisot, the only woman to exhibit under her own name in the original Impressionist group. Unfolding over a period of 15 years (1868–1883), this exhibition traces the evolution of a friendship between two groundbreaking artists. The story of their relationship has often been told through Manet’s early portraits of Morisot, with Morisot’s own work treated as an offshoot of Manet’s. Recent scholarship reveals that, by the final years of his life, Manet increasingly followed Morisot’s example — her choice of subjects and colors, and even her rapid, fluttering brushstrokes. Rich in new research, the exhibition recasts this celebrated artistic friendship — and, by extension, the story of modern art — in a fresh light.

Holbein’s Ambassadors is one of the most famous paintings in the National Gallery. It is also one of the most intriguing. Laden with hidden symbols and mysteries, the work has been the subject of intense debate among historians during the five centuries since it was created.

Here Tracy Borman unpicks the secrets of this enigmatic artwork, painted during a turbulent time in English history as Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church in order to marry the young Anne Boleyn. From Holbein’s experiences as a German-Swiss émigré who rose to a position as the ‘King’s Painter’, to the two French ambassadors’ troubles at court, this book illuminates the fascinating story behind a masterpiece of the Tudor era.

The show “Corot to Watteau” focuses on the complex histories of 38 selected drawings and two sketchbooks by French artists which were examined over the course of many years as part of a research project into their provenance. Critical attention was paid especially to those drawings that entered the Kunsthalle’s collection during and shortly after the Third Reich as a result of confiscation by the Nazis, particularly of Jewish property.

Among the works on display are numerous never-before-shown drawings by masters from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries such as Michel Corneille, Camille Corot, Antoine Coypel, Jacques-Louis David, Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Baptiste Huet, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Amédée van Loo, Charles Joseph Natoire, Charles Parrocel, Hubert Robert, Marie-Ernestine Serret, Pierre Le Sueur, François Verdier, Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Simon Vouet

At the turn of the 20th century, an unprecedented wave of women artists prevailed against social constraints and left Australia to pursue international professional careers.

This is the first major exhibition to focus on the vital role of these Australian women in the emergence of international modernism, including the now-famous, such as Nora Heysen, Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith, as well as the still under-recognised, such as CL Allport, Justine Kong Sing and Stella Marks.

Featuring celebrated and rediscovered paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture and ceramics, Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940 reclaims the place of these pivotal Australian women artists, recognising their contribution to the development of European art. They brought new ideas back to Australia and played an integral, often unrecognised role in modernising our nation.

Western art developed in conjunction with the pictorial needs of the Christian church. At the heart of the Christian faith is the Crucifixion and the so-called Passion, the deeds and days leading to it. 

This exhibition brings together drawings from the Renaissance and the Baroque from the gallery’s collection and explores how artists depicted the complex themes of love, betrayal and pain found in these stories. Drawings include: Federico Zuccaro’s The Last Supper,  Ludovico Carracci’s Christ shown to the People, Toussaint Dubreuil’s The carrying of the Cross, Jacopo Pontormo’s Lamentation and many more.

Charting a journey through France, this exhibition examines how place informed the work of modern painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Life in and around Paris and the coastal regions of Normandy and Brittany inspired the radical brushwork, light palette, and contemporary subject matter of impressionists like Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, their mentor and friend Édouard Manet, and the post-impressionists. Several of these painters subsequently moved to the South of France, seeking the warmer climate and dazzling sunlight that intensified their colors. The exhibition highlights Vincent van Gogh’s time in Arles and Saint-Rémy as well as Paul Cézanne’s deep connection to his native Provence. Finally, the show returns to Paris to find a new generation of painters who flocked to the City of Light from across Europe—Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, Giorgio de Chirico, and Joan Miró—and reaffirmed the French capital’s place as the center of modern art.

You will shape and deliver collections-based research, displays, public programming and curatorial work on these collections to support the Museum's Vision and Mission, the Research & Impact Strategy and the Business Plan. We particularly encourage approaches that consider the present-day and global relevance of these collections, and how communities connect with these objects and artworks. You will be encouraged to work collaboratively within the Fitzwilliam Museum and across the University of Cambridge.

The post-holder will be knowledgeable about, and have experience of working with Historic & Modern Paintings, have experience of exhibitions/displays, and be committed to developing new collection perspectives, including researching, teaching, exhibiting and publishing the work of diverse and underrecognised artists or cultures.

The definitive exhibition of two pivotal British artists in the 250th year of their births.

Two of Britain’s greatest painters, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable were also the greatest of rivals. Born within a year of each other – Turner in 1775, Constable in 1776 – they used landscape art as a way to reflect the changing world around them.

Raised in the gritty heart of Georgian London, Turner quickly became a rising star of the art world despite his humble beginnings. Meanwhile Constable, the son of a wealthy Suffolk merchant, was equally determined to forge his own path as an artist but faced a more arduous rise to acclaim. Though from different worlds they shared a profound connection to nature, and both set their sights on transforming landscape painting, investing it with layers of meaning and emotion. [...]

Marking 250 years since their births, this landmark exhibition explores Turner and Constable's intertwined lives and legacies. Discover unexpected sides to both artists alongside intimate insights seen through sketchbooks and personal items. Must-see artworks include Turner’s powerful and dynamic later paintings, which shocked the art critics of his day and went on to inspire Claude Monet, and Constable's expressive cloud sketches capturing the changing light of an English sky.

We are looking for a talented person with strong experience in research management to lead our research team, during a period of parental leave. With strong communication skills, you will support the Director of Research and Interpretation in advancing Tate’s research aims over the next year.

The Research Convenor (parental leave cover) will lead a team of Special Project Researchers to ensure that research targets are met. You will also work alongside the Director to help shape a programme of research development and dissemination.