Looking back: The best exhibitions of 2016
From cosmic infinity in a box, to a radical feminist art collective, here are the exhibitions that blew us away this year, from January to December
A Tate great: Alexander Calder, Tate Modern ★★★★★
This exhibition proved that Calder was so much more than 'the man who made mobiles' - he was an artist at the vanguard of Modernist thought. It was a joy from start to finish.
Read more ...Behold, the Avant Gardens: Monet to Matisse, Royal Academy ★★★★★
The Royal Academy’s triumphant exhibition took London by storm earlier this year. We were smitten
Read more ...Simply Divine: Botticelli and Treasures from the Hamilton Collection, Courtauld Gallery ★★★★★
Botticelli's exquisite illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy were a sight to behold at the Courtauld Gallery this year. . Devoid of colour and rendered in a plain, graphic style, they are a marvel of beauty and simplicity
Infinity in a box: Yayoi Kusama review, Victoria Miro ★★★★★
Yayoi Kusama brought three ‘Infinity Rooms’ to Islington; mirrored convex chambers, each with some flickering light source. When you step into the room alone, and the door is closed behind you, everything was suddenly infinite.
Read more ...The majestic father of colour photography: William Eggleston portraits ★★★★★
When you're standing in front of an Eggleston picture, the heightened, frenzied palette takes you straight to some tiny stolen 50 year-old moment, somewhere in the Deep South. The result is pure poetry.
Read more ...Grrrrl power: Guerrilla Girls, Whitechapel Gallery ★★★★★
They dub themselves the ‘Conscience of the Art World’ and have interrogated the inequalities of a male-dominated art world for over three decades. Radical art collective Guerrilla Girls stormed into Whitechapel this year.
Read more ...Wilde thing: Inside, Reading Prison ★★★★★
Ai Weiwei, Steve McQueen, Patti Smith and many more honoured Oscar Wilde in the first ever Reading Prison exhibition
Read more ...Sound and Colour: The Infinite Mix, Hayward Gallery ★★★★★
This heady off-site Hayward Show will explore relationship between image and sound, with a collection of 'immersive installations' by art-world heavyweights, including Turner-Prize winner Martin Creed, Jeremy Deller and Cecilia Bengolea.
Read more ...Exploding the white cube: Anselm Kiefer, White Cube Bermondsey ★★★★★
'Westward look, the land is bright'. This White Cube Anselm Kiefer show knocked us for six.
Read more ...America's finest: Robert Rauschenberg, Tate Modern review ★★★★★
The goat has arrived. The Tate Modern celebrates the ultimate rule breaker with a stunning Robert Rauschenberg exhibition
Read more ...Childlike wonder: Adventures in Moominland review, Southbank Centre ★★★★★
We sent an eight-year-old, a ten-year-old and a twenty-five-year-old review Adventures in Moominland. All three gave it five stars.
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