From the magazine

The greatest paintings are always full of important unimportant things

A gloriously heterogeneous show at the Courtauld, in which Manet, Renoir, Bruegel and others rescue all manner of trivia from oblivion

Craig Raine
‘The Milliner’, c.1875, Pierre-Auguste Renoir THE SWISS CONFEDERATION, FEDERAL OFFICE OF CULTURE, OSKAR REINHART COLLECTION ‘AM RÖMERHOLZ’, WINTERTHUR
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 08 March 2025
issue 08 March 2025

Goya to Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection, at the Courtauld, consists of a selection of 25 absorbing paintings chosen from 207. I was disappointed but not surprised that one of the greatest paintings in the world, Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s ‘Die Anbetung der Könige im Schnee’ (The Adoration of the Kings in the Snow, 1563), didn’t make the journey from Winterthur in Switzerland.

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