5 amazing shows to see this November

What better on a winter’s day, than to spend time in the glow of a gallery enjoying art? These five exhibitions are currently top of our list

Image: © Museu de Montserrat, donated by Josep Sala Ardiz, 1980

Banish winter blues 

If the dark mornings and evenings have you mirroring this floppy pose, head to Oxford, to the Ashmolean. Colour Revolution: Victorian Art, Fashion & Design presents a dazzling version of the Victorian world, dispelling its reputation for gloom and satanic mills. Art, technology and science brought an explosion of colour, as shown in the artworks, costumes and design on display. Among the works is this, artist Ramon Casas’s Decadent young woman. After the dance of 1899. Just look at that shimmering green… 

Until 18 February 2024; ashmolean.org

Image: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam © The Estate of Philip Guston​

Get to know Guston 

This is Philip Guston’s Painting, Smoking, Eating of 1973. Guston was born in 1913 in Montreal, Canada to a Jewish immigrant family; by the time of his death in New York in 1980 he had become one of the world’s most celebrated abstract painters. Socially and politically committed, his compelling works have rigorous, luminous qualities and demand considered viewing. Tate Modern’s exhibition, Philip Guston, is the first UK retrospective for 20 years of the art of this complex artist, staged after its postponement in 2020. 

Until 25 February 2024; tate.org.uk

Image: National Galleries of Scotland, purchased 1987 

Celebrate Scotland’s art

The Scottish galleries are now open at the National in Edinburgh, following a £38m renovation. The 10 new spaces show key works from the nation’s historic Scottish art collection. Among the 130 treasures you’ll find works by such greats as William McTaggart, Anne Redpath, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Raeburn and more. Among them discover this lesser-known work, The Hunt, once known as Diana and her Nymphs. It was made in 1926 by Robert Burns for the sleek interior of Crawford’s Tea Rooms in Princes Street, for which the artist created every detail, from panels to cake stands.

Ongoing; nationalgalleries.org

Image: © Lee Miller Archives England 2023. All Rights Reserved. leemiller.co.uk

Stylish pioneer 

We love the sound of this show at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. It was planned to coincide with the release of the film Lee, with Kate Winslet playing the remarkable model, surrealist, photographer and war correspondent Lee Miller (1907–77). Lee Miller: Dressed tracks Miller’s life through her dress and style. Pictured here is one of her London wartime fashion photographs of 1941, showing model Elizabeth Cowell wearing a Digby Morton suit. 

Until 18 February 2024; brightonmuseums.org.uk

Image: Mat Collishaw, The Faith Museum, Bishop Auckland 

Ghostly installation 

The new Faith Museum in County Durham has just opened, housed in a 14th-century wing of Auckland Castle. Inside the sleek building by Níall McLaughlin Architects lie some 250 precious objects. Each reveals a story of faith in Britain over 6,000 years, from the Neolithic period to 2000. Ten years in the making, the museum will also stage exhibitions exploring timeless ideas. Among the displays is this, artist Mat Collishaw’s new installation in the Great Gallery. Entitled Eidolon, it shows a single blue iris flower engulfed in – but not consumed by – flames, while a voice sings from the Book of Daniel. The piece has been made to emulate a violently transcendental state – a ghostly, chimerical testament to unswerving faith.

Ongoing; aucklandproject.org

For more inspiring shows, see The Arts Society Magazine, available exclusively to members and supporters of The Arts Society (to join, see theartssociety.org/member-benefits). And for our online monthly ‘5 amazing art shows to see’, sign up at theartssociety.org/signup