Cuts, cuts, cuts: this seems to be the endless refrain that attends any discussion of the arts in the United Kingdom. On the one hand many recognise the profound benefits to a civilised society of a vibrant cultural sector; however, the reality is increasingly characterised in certain areas by a woeful lack of investment, a crumbling infrastructure and the loss of skills and expertise. Such issues are often explored in the press and have been aired in the past in the Editorials of this Magazine.

Salvatore Quasimodo’s poem ‘And suddenly it’s evening’ is inscribed onto the final wall of this exhibition of works by Anselm Kiefer (b.1945): ‘Everyone stands alone on the heart of the earth / pierced by a ray of sunlight / and suddenly it is evening’. The existential themes evoked in these lines – solitude, the joys and pains of living and the inevitability of death – are not unusual in Kiefer’s decades-long practice. However, this exhibition marks the first time his work been placed in dialogue with Renaissance architecture, specifically a building that he describes as one of his ‘favorite edifices in the world’.

Organised to celebrate the 150th anniversary of what became known as the First Impressionist Exhibition, mounted by the Société Anonyme des artistes peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, etc. on 15th April 1874, this exhibition is eye-opening for the challenge it presents to the received narrative about Impressionism and its effect on art. Divided into eleven thematic sections and including 157 works and archival documents, the show questions the distinction between Impressionist and establishment art as well as the way these should be defined.