The Easel

9th June 2026

Marilyn Monroe at the National Portrait Gallery – the woman who became a masterpiece

Laura Cumming | The Observer | 6th June 2026

This “riveting” show of Monroe portraits begs the question – is there any more to learn from yet another show?  The answer, it seems, is that we want to know the “real Marilyn”, not just the skilled actress and dazzling photographic creature. One writer says that she “anticipated the postmodern world and the age of Instagram, in which the self could be redefined [into multiple] identities”. The huge effort to create those identities required “dignified resilience … whoever she was, Marilyn lives.”

2nd June 2026

I lived near a serial killer’: Steven Shearer on turning teen angst and death metal into high art

Eddy Frankel | The Guardian | 29th May 2026

Living in Vancouver and predisposed not to talk to the press, Shearer has built a reputation without attracting much notice. He is now “a star”, due particularly to his colourful, intense “lonesome” portraits of long-haired youths. He draws on media images that are then mashed up with allusions to German Romanticism. Are they “part-autobiographical” asks the writer. Says Shearer, “I guess you’d call them a kind of imagined portraiture”.

Everything you need to know about the Bayeux Tapestry

Michael Lewis | The British Museum | 22nd May 2026

The Bayeaux Tapestry’s arrival in London will be a big deal. This piece is a useful primer. The Tapestry covers the lead-up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, where the French prevailed. Experts think it was made in England, by English women. Most of the action appears in the central frieze while the borders are decorative. For a few especially dramatic events, such as the arrival of the French fleet, the imagery spreads across the whole tapestry. Opening date in London is September 10.

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