‘Munch marched up to the director’s office, threw his paintbrushes on to the desk and said that the workers should finish the friezes.’ Ana María Bresciani of the Munchmuseet explains how Edvard Munch came to decorate the women’s canteen of a chocolate factory in Oslo

Production designer Antonia Lowe talks to Apollo about how she went about creating the mouldering studio of the fictional painter played by Ian McKellen at the heart of Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, ‘The Christophers’

‘As a history of Africa in 45 objects, it would be hard to top the developer’s selection here.’ Samuel Reilly plays Relooted, a video game that allows us to pull off heists of African art from Western institutions

This is the year of Marcel Duchamp, with major exhibitions at MoMA and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ is perhaps the most famous artwork of the 20th century, but its creator’s intentions are still endlessly debated, writes Nicole Rudick.

‘I was ready to pan the Whitney Biennial until I saw it a second time. It was then I realised that the show is not an incoherent hodgepodge; it only feels like one.’ Zachary Ginsberg looks more closely at a messy but revealing snapshot of contemporary American art

The June issue of Apollo is out now: featuring the Albertina Museum in Vienna at 250 | an interview with Anish Kapoor | Frederic Church’s miracle home on the Hudson | the fine art of cricket at Lord’s | LACMA’s bold answer to the problem of the ‘universal’ museum – and much more. buff.ly/j2K2HSO

The Georgian era was famed for the extravagance of its banquets. Ivan Day goes in search of some of the wildest recipes of the 18th century

‘It’s a place made from the leftover fabric of the last century.’ Will Wiles gets to the heart of the everyday horrors of ‘Backrooms’, the debut film by Kane Parsons.

Jasper Johns was a flag-bearer for a particular brand of inscrutable, elegant painting, writes Charles Darwent as an exhibition of the artist’s work opens at the Guggenheim Bilbao

‘Something like a State of the Union Address for American art’ – Zachary Ginsberg looks for meaning in a messy Whitney Biennial in which the best work is, he writes, ‘chronically online’.

‘The bird’s-eye view encapsulates the essence of a landscape where underground can become overground at any moment.’ Helena Attlee is fired up by a 17th-century depiction of the eruption of Mount Etna.

In ‘A Dog’s Gaze’, Thomas Laqueur tracks how man’s best friend has been represented in art over the centuries – and what it represents in life, writes Robert Hanks.

‘As far as most museum visitors know, the only nation that produced art in the 19th century was France. Rodin was the only sculptor, Monet, Manet, Degas the only painters – no one else did anything.’ The gallerist Andreas Pampoulides talks about his mission to broaden collectors’ horizons.

The self-taught painter Henri Rousseau had a tremendous sense of self-belief, despite being ridiculed in his lifetime. A landmark exhibition confirms him as a singularly modern artist, writes Susan Moore.

‘For Charles and Ray Eames, everything was architecture.’ Catherine Ince on the husband-and-wife duo’s absolutely prefab designs for modern living.

Bruges was an international trading powerhouse in the Middle Ages, and its rich cultural heritage has made it a magnet for modern tourists. The city’s newest arts venue wants to connect locals more closely to that past while keeping up with contemporary art, writes Michael Delgado.

Production designer Antonia Lowe talks to Apollo about how she went about creating the mouldering studio of the fictional painter played by Ian McKellen at the heart of Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, ‘The Christophers’.

This is the year of Marcel Duchamp, with major exhibitions at MoMA and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ is perhaps the most famous artwork of the 20th century, but its creator’s intentions are still endlessly debated, writes Nicole Rudick.

‘What Dunn achieved in these cartoons was certainly a form of criticism, a quicksilver form that is notoriously difficult to achieve in prose.’ Will Wiles on Alan Dunn, a cartoonist who had a fine line in writing about architecture.

Reports that an artist has designed a house in the shape of a coyote’s head in New Mexico prompt Rakewell to reflect on coyotes in the recent history of art – and the greatest fictional coyote of them all.

‘One of the most original fashion photography projects of the past decade comes not from London or Paris but from the post-industrial valleys of South Wales.’ Owen Pritchard talks to Clémentine Schneidermann and Charlotte James about ‘Ffasiwn’, now at National Museum Cardiff.

The terrifying power of Mount Etna is captured in a 17th-century fresco in Catania’s cathedral: ‘a fascinating impression of Catania before it was razed to the ground’, writes Helena Attlee

In Bruges’s newest cultural venue, contemporary art can be seen alongside historic objects from the city’s museums. BRUSK, writes Michael Delgado, wants to bring locals closer to their heritage while looking out at the wider world.

‘Munch was not generally an outspoken political artist but he did express solidarity with workers, who he tended to think of as perseverant men, like himself.’ Ana María Bresciani of the Munchmuseet talks to Apollo about the painter’s commission for a factory canteen in Oslo.

In Steven Soderbergh’s film ‘The Christophers’, Ian McKellen’s once-celebrated artist hasn’t put brush to canvas for decades. Production designer Antonia Lowe talks to Arjun Sajip about how creating his cluttered, crusted-over studio was a gift of a project.

‘The best work is chronically online.’ The snapshot of contemporary American art offered by this year’s Whitney Biennial is undoubtedly messy but unintentionally revealing, writes Zachary Ginsberg.

‘A puckish entry into the real-world restitution debate, the game has not surprisingly garnered a lot of hype and got up more than a few noses.’ Samuel Reilly on Relooted, a video game that allows players to reclaim African art from Western institutions.

‘For Duchamp, the object is negligible, a vessel for the idea, which is itself the original fragrance. The offence for him was in making art that looked pretty but had no concept behind it.’ Nicole Rudick considers the provocative and elusive art of Marcel Duchamp.

‘In the art world you’re not only buying an object, you’re buying a relationship.’ Andreas Pampoulides of Old Masters specialist Lullo Pampoulides talks to Apollo about the importance of fairs, what happened after Brexit, and the collapse of the mid market.

A 140kg pie ‘stuffed with preserved game and wild birds – including 20 rabbits, two geese, 12 partridges and 46 yellowhammers’ – is just one example of the ‘boorish overindulgence’ of the Georgian era, writes Ivan Day.

‘The open source nature of the backrooms is part of what gives them strength as a contemporary myth – the sense that they were not created, but already exist in the collective subconscious.’ Will Wiles on ’Backrooms’ a haunted house movie that owes its origins to an internet message board.

This is an excellent piece by @willwiles.bsky.social and a good reminder that The Way Inn is a modern horror masterpiece.

‘Flags, like targets, were manly, readable, in-your-face. Johns made them illegible, in the closet, even.’ Charles Darwent salutes the subtle art of Jasper Johns.

Reports that an artist has designed a house in the shape of a coyote’s head in New Mexico lead Rakewell to think about coyotes in the recent history of art – as well as Wile E., the greatest fictional coyote of them all.

Bruges hasn’t been an international trading powerhouse since the Middle Ages. But its rich cultural heritage has made it a magnet for modern tourists. The city’s newest venue, BRUSK, wants to connect locals more closely to that past while keeping up with contemporary art, writes Michael Delgado

A 140kg pie ‘stuffed with preserved game and wild birds – including 20 rabbits, two geese, 12 partridges and 46 yellowhammers’ – is just one example of the ‘boorish overindulgence’ of the Georgian era, writes Ivan Day

The market for furniture by mid-century French designers is as sturdy as a Jean Prouvé table or a hippo-cum-drinks cabinet by François-Xavier Lalanne, writes Emma Crichton-Miller

The Bauhaus teacher Herbert Bayer built up an exceptional art collection, which is about to come to auction – and this minimalist drawing by Mathias Goeritz is one of its prize lots, writes Lucy Waterson.

Closing next week: a revelatory exhibition of Edmonia Lewis’s sculptures, which were much admired by the likes of Frederick Douglass and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in her lifetime.

The painter Angel Otero talks to Apollo about his studio life in New York and Puerto Rico, where music – be it bossa nova or hip hop – is always playing in the background, and young peoples’ opinions on his art are welcome.

They did have *exceptional* hat game

‘Munch was not generally an outspoken political artist but he did express solidarity with workers, who he tended to think of as perseverant men, like himself.’ Ana María Bresciani of the Munchmuseet talks to Apollo about the painter’s commission for a factory canteen in Oslo.

The snapshot of contemporary American art offered by this year’s Whitney Biennial is undoubtedly messy and unintentionally revealing, writes Zachary Ginsberg

‘The open source nature of the backrooms is part of what gives them strength as a contemporary myth – the sense that they were not created, but already exist in the collective subconscious.’ Will Wiles watches a modern haunted house movie that owes its origins to an internet message board.

‘One of the most original fashion photography projects of the past decade comes not from London or Paris but from the post-industrial valleys of South Wales.’ Owen Pritchard talks to Clémentine Schneidermann and Charlotte James about ‘Ffasiwn’, now at National Museum Cardiff.

‘Balancing the needs of locals to not be overrun and the desire to attract visitors is Bruges’s central quandary and it’s one that plays out in the city’s latest art space.’ Michael Delgado visits BRUSK, where contemporary art, Old Masters and historic objects combine to tell a powerful new story

‘What Dunn achieved in these cartoons was certainly a form of criticism, a quicksilver form that is notoriously difficult to achieve in prose.’ Will Wiles on Alan Dunn, a cartoonist with a fine line in writing about architecture.

Very few precious objects made by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier survived the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, but a gold and lapis lazuli snuffbox, recently acquired by Cleveland Museum of Art, is one of the few that did. It’s one of Apollo’s acquisitions of the month.

When Dürer failed to produce a portrait of Erasmus, Hans Holbein the Younger stepped in. The result gave Basel’s leading painter entrée to the market for portraits and an introduction to the Tudor court. Tim Smith-Laing reads a biography that gets to the heart of the artist’s success.

‘Gold becomes a symbol of the imaginative, perhaps even redemptive, transmutation of nature into art.’ Tara Contractor on how Whistler’s love of gold and other metallic pigments shines through his paintings.