The National Gallery (October 11, 2024): Journey to the south of France and witness the landscapes that so inspired Vincent van Gogh and the painting techniques that have made him famous today. Travel through Arles and Saint-Rémy – from the banks of the Rhône to the hospital where he stayed.
See for yourself the locations that made their way onto Van Gogh’s canvases. ‘Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers’ is a once-in-a-century exhibition that brings together paintings from across the globe, some rarely seen in public. Track Vincent’s work through 1888 and 1889, the two most artistically fruitful years in his life.
Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers 14 September 2024 – 19 January 2025
The New Yorker (October 7, 2024): The latest issue featuresVictoria Tentler-Krylov’s “New Heights” – Sunlight flickering on the hustle and bustle of the streets.
Trump’s Dangerous Immigration Obsession
The daily stream of racism and mendacity has had a numbing effect. But the question of what Trump might actually do is a prospect that voters cannot afford to ignore. By Jonathan Blitzer
Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster
From crypto to A.I., the tech sector is pouring millions into super PACS that intimidate politicians into supporting its agenda. By Charles Duhigg
Sleep Essential for Health
Donald Trump is lying next to you in the bed, wearing snug cotton pajamas printed to look like his signature blue suit. You want to tell him a few things you think he ought to know, but his fake snoring drowns you out. By Ian Frazier
Literary Review – October 2, 2024: The latest issue featuresRichard Vinen on Churchill; @wendymoore99 on Marie Curie; Ritchie Robertson on Augustus the Strong; @robinsimonbaj on British art and @tomlamont on James Salter
‘It’s not a bad life for the leaders of the British bourgeoisie! There’s plenty for them to protect in their capitalist system!’ So wrote Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador in London, after his first visit to Winston Churchill’s country house at Chartwell in Kent. He described the house thus: ‘A wonderful place! Eighty-four acres of land … all clothed in a truly English dark-blue haze.’
Frederick Augustus (1670–1733), elector of Saxony and king of Poland, owed his sobriquet ‘the Strong’ to such feats as crushing a tin plate in his hand (mentioned by Rilke in the ‘Fifth Duino Elegy’) and to his vigorous sex life. Contemporaries credited him with fathering 354 illegitimate children; Tim Blanning soberly reduces the number to eight. This biography is concerned not with court gossip, however, but with Augustus’s political career and cultural achievements. Blanning celebrates Augustus as the virtual creator of the once-magnificent city of Dresden, where the kings of Saxony resided, and hence, surprisingly, as ‘a great artist, arguably the greatest of his age’.
In the first of a new series exploring England’s varied landscapes, John Lewis-Stempel discovers a paradise for wildlife amid the bleak desolation of the estuary
Pretty Chitty-Bang-Bang, we love you
Mary Miers reveals the origins of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, as Ian Fleming’s beloved magical flying car prepares to turn 60
Travel
Rosie Paterson digs out some private hideaways
Steven King experiences how the other half lived as he stays in the homes of some illustrious names
A trip to Tuscany is the perfect tonic for Pamela Goodman
The rest is history
Michael Hall examines the noble art of history painting through the output of such masters as van Dyck, Rubens and Fuseli
Inigo Lambertini’s favourite painting
The Italian ambassador picks a profound classical work of art
Homesick for the olden days
Carla Carlisle takes a wistful look at history and admits we didn’t realise we had it so good
A Georgian triumph
John Goodall reveals the eight winners in this year’s Georgian Group Architectural Awards
Handsome and genteel
In the second of two articles, Jeremy Musson charts the revival of George Washington’s Mount Vernon mansion in Virginia
The legacy
Carla Passino hails the founders of the peerless Wallace Collection
Our last hurrah
October is the time for filling up winter stores, says Lia Leendertz
Bury me in a willow-shaped coffin
English osier beds are enjoying a revival, finds Jane Wheatley
Another string to the bow
Harry Pearson meets Britain’s master luthier Roger Hansell
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell goes wild for jewellery
Interiors
Bright and beautiful paint and wallpaper, with Amelia Thorpe
London Life
Rosie Paterson follows the V&A’s precious cargo
Samantha Cameron is in the hot seat
Jack Watkins relives Primrose Hill’s Death Pyramid plan
John Goodall asks whether enough is enough for the capital’s skyline
The world on the doorstep
Caroline Donald visits the gardens of China, Italy and Africa without leaving Seend Manor in Wiltshire
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson on quince
Foraging
John Wright gets imaginative in the kitchen with sweet chestnuts
The show must go on
James Fisher can’t see beyond an England cricket win in Pakistan
BBC (September 30, 2024): Paid In Full: The Battle for Black Music documents the extent of the historic injustice suffered by the music industry’s Black artists, including the disparity of profits received by them, despite having created the records that have driven the fabric and culture of popular music – from jazz and rock and roll to soul and rap.
Features interviews with Black titans of the music industry Cadence Weapon, Chaka Khan, George Clinton, Monie Love, Nile Rodgers, Gloria Gaynor, Ice T, Master P, and Smokey Robinson.
Apollo Magazine (September 30, 2024): The new October 2024 issue features An interview with Liliane Lijn; The dealer who launched Picasso and The marvels of Mughal painting
The veteran sherry-makers at Bodegas Tradición in Cádiz may have perfected their craft, but the winery’s collection of paintings by great Spanish artists is no less impressive
The Vice-President has displayed the basic values and political skills that would enable her to help end, once and for all, a poisonous era defined by Donald Trump. By The Editors
Has Social Media Fuelled a Teen-Suicide Crisis?
Mental-health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans, and parents and lawmakers alike are scrutinizing life online for answers. By Andrew Solomon
Is a Chat with a Bot a Conversation?
An artificial voice has long been a dream of tinkerers and technologists. Now that A.I. can talk, though, we may forget who we’re talking to.
Richard Negus reveals how the ancient art of hedgelaying plays a crucial role in creating countryside highways for British Wildlife.
Playing fast and loose
Matthew Dennison unmasks the tough-talking, gun-toting highwaywomen who brazenly ruled the roads of Britain
US Special
The latest in Stateside luxury on land and sea; Charles Harris Charts the birth of Liberty; Agnes Stamp relives the golden age of transatlantic travel; Charlie Thomas gets his kicks on Route 66; Russell Higham tunes up for Newport and all that jazz; Rosie Paterson checks in on New York hotels; Tom Parker Bowles finds out what’s hot in US food; and Melanie Bryan looks at Country Life across the pond.
The Legacy
Laurence Olivier takes centre stage once more as Kate Green applauds his crucial role in the founding of the National Theatre
Foraging
It’s a magnet for dirt and earwigs, but don’t let that put you off — anyone for cauliflower-fungus cheese, asks John Wright
Love in a dry climate
Kendra Wilson marvels at the innovative design of a desert garden at Ghost Wash in the Paradise Valley, Arizona
The swing of the pendulum
It’s high time we celebrated the golden age of British horology, suggests Huon Mallalieu, as he finds out exactly what made our master clockmakers tick.
A well-resorted tavern
In the first of two articles, Jeremy Musson charts the remarkable history and preservation of Mount Vernon, George Washington’s former home in Virginia
Singing the end-of-summertime blues
A does of digging is just what the doctor ordered for John Lewis-Stempel as he attends to shake off his gloomy mood
Navigating nostalgia
Joseph Phelan is at the tiller for a joyous canal-boat journey — to the Industrial Revolution and back — on Britain’s canal network
And, as always, much much more
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
The New Yorker (October 7, 2024): The latest issue features Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s “New Heights” – Sunlight flickering on the hustle and bustle of the streets.
Boomers Daily 