While I’m not inclined to agree that the last important artists were Klein and Fontana (Kiefer? Richter?), there’s no doubt that the transformation of art into a speculative market for the super-rich to park their money in has been detrimental.  There are overvalued artists in every generation, whose work subsequently slips into the dustbin of history, our generation will simply have a much fuller, more ostensibly valuable bin.

Caravaggio was a son of a bitch. He killed people. He drank and brawled and painted and died. We love him for that, for being the difficult genius, for giving us stories. It’s 400 years since he died and the Caravaggio buzz is up to fever pitch. Everybody wants to talk about Caravaggio.

Great audio slideshow with dozens of pictures of Matisse’s work from one of his best periods.

Unfairly dismissed as a writer by the art world, and as an artist by the literati, hopefully this show will restore this uber-modernist to his deserved place in the history of mid-century art and beyond.

Untitled Gysin work, from the slideshow