The Courtauld Gallery

London has seen no shortage of Impressionism exhibitions in recent years. Do we need another? Possibly not. But this one does offer the chance to see some magnificent paintings from the collection of arts patron and Impressionism superfan Oskar Reinhart for the first time outside of his native Switzerland.  And the Courtauld Gallery is the perfect host, thanks to the many overlaps the collections of Samuel Courtauld and Reinhart, two men fascinated with Cézanne, van Gogh and Manet. This leads to some very literal parallels: for example, two Honoré Daumier paintings depicting Don Quijote and his groom, Sancho Panza, hang on opposing sides of the same wall, one in the permanent collection and one in the temporary exhibition. The exhibition starts with a punchy trio. Immediately, you’re confronted by Goya’s ‘Still Life With Three Salmon Steaks’. Painted during the Peninsular War, it’s shot through with violence: against a stark black backdrop, the vivid pinks of the meat are almost unbearably fleshy, streaked with blood that pools at the base of the steaks. Goya, who masterfully depicts nightmares in his black paintings, here grounds his horror in the gut-churningly real. The effect is intense and bodily. ‘A Man Suffering From Delusions of Military Rank’, by Théodore Géricault, is a deeply unsettling portrait, part of a group of works thought to depict individuals with mental illnesses. Here, a gaunt man wears an approximation of military dress (a hospital ward tag hanging...

Wayne Thiebaud treated the basic kitsch of American life as if it was the most important subject matter in the whole history of art. His bold, gorgeous, luscious still lifes of hot dogs, pies and ice creams were a stunning precursor to pop art, an exercise in elevating the everyday to almost divine levels. Delicious.