Arts news

• Frans Hals review – a joyful Dutch master in the spotlight

  01-10-2023 14:00
  
  National Gallery, London
  Often overshadowed by his contemporary Rembrandt, the 17th-century Haarlem artist is revealed to be a genius of the seemingly nonchalant yet telling portrait in this first showcase of his work in 30 yearsTwo portraits: Marie Larp and Pieter Dircksz Tjarck, painted as a pendant pair by Frans Hals in about 1635, a year after their marriage. And what a couple they make. Pieter Tjarck holds a pink rose – a symbol, perhaps, of his love for his new wife. But it fairly fl
  
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• ‘Art is the way I feel free’: the artists working under siege in Gaza

  01-10-2023 07:00
  
  Using recycled materials and even metal left behind by Israeli rockets, artists continue to endure in the tiny coastal enclaveGrey rubble dust has settled on almost everything around a destroyed house in Deir al-Balah, a town in the centre of the occupied Gaza Strip, but on some shrapnel-pocked walls, the paint is still fresh and vibrant.Graffiti artists have used the building as a canvas after Israel’s five-day Operation Shield and Arrow in May, a surprise offensive that left 33 Palestini
  
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