When we think of marking the skin, we may envisage a tattoo with the name of a loved one or an aphorism written across the arm, but the concept of tattooing dates back to some of the earliest humans whose mummified remains we’ve discovered, stretching thousands of years to the last Ice Age. 

Likewise, when we think of wearing animal products such as leather, it feels divorced from the animal it comes from. However, our earliest ancestors used animals’ hides and skins for protection, comfort and warmth. It’s these two technologies that stretch back beyond the dawn of civilisation that Bilge Yildiz combines in her artworks.

By tattooing on animal leather, she creates surreal scenes that probe our psyches, examining universal concepts such as the passage of time, facing our fears, and the regular rebirths we undergo as we evolve as individuals. By using a technique associated with permanence on a material that itself carries the memories of a life lived, these works carry more weight than they would if painted on canvas.

We carry forward dreams and fears from childhood, and we can see this in the works ‘Little Princess’ and ‘Oedipus Nightmare’. In the former, a little girl playing with a toy plane dreams of becoming a pilot, while the latter is much darker: a young boy has a nightmare as a demonic creature emerges from the dark to drag him away from his toys. It feels like a manifestation of growing up, as life sweeps us away from our childhood naivete, and the worries of the world and the act of forging a life for ourselves feel terrifying.

This carries forward in the work ‘Black Mirror’, where we see references to history, with the accusing men reminding me of the witch trials of the Middle Ages, and contemporary references to smartphones keeping their hold on us, here imagined as a chain. The dark imagery reminds me of Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare, where an Incubus sits atop a sleeping woman. 

The surreal scene of ‘Fruits of Time’, where an older woman sees her younger self in the mirror, brings to mind ‘The Two Fridas’ by Frida Kahlo, where she incorporated two versions of herself, and as that referred to two identities at one time, this imagines the same across a lifespan. 

One of the darkest works is ‘Catastrophe’, in which a screaming man indoors evokes Edvard Munch’s masterpiece ‘The Scream’ and Francis Bacon’s screaming Pope. The melting clock outside evokes Salvador Dalí’s work, which also addresses memory and the passage of time. In Yildiz’s work, the man attempting to push a melting clock up a hill feels like an allusion to the myth of Sisyphus trying to repeatedly push a boulder uphill. Just as we all may try to hold back time, but will ultimately fail, as famously, time waits for nobody. 

In her London selection, it was natural for her presentation to end on the fiery rebirth of ‘Be…’. It’s a marker for how we all change throughout life, but also symbolic of the artist’s journey working with leather accessories and footwear, and in the design industry before gravitating towards art.

Bilge Yildiz presents unsettling and dreamlike visions in her artwork, and through them she asks us to accept that scary moments are part of being alive, that we must pass through times and events that disturb us to find out who we are and what our place in the world will be. Combining these themes with her unique medium is what sets her apart from other artists who may cover similar themes but would never think to tattoo them onto animal leather. 

More information about Bilge Yildiz’s practice can be found on her Instagram.

August was full of powerful new releases, including Phoebe Bridgers‘ much-anticipated indie comeback and a wave of exciting debuts. Here are six album covers that caught our eye last month.

Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Weekend

The glitchy photograph on the cover of Lost Weekend was captured by Olof Grind, who also photographed Bridgers’ previous album, Punisher. The luminous blues and cyan against the black backdrop create an infrared-esque effect centering the artist’s face.

Mike D – Thank You

The cover artwork for Mike D’s debut album was a group effort: the artist enlisted the help of various collaborators including Can Can Press, Thad Higa, and Charles Deroyan. The pin-like geometric design is unique and enticing.

Squirrel Flower – Say a Prayer to the Gods of Getting Going

The visual art for Squirrel Flower’s new album was created by artist Tate Shockley. The artwork echoes themes of continuous movement and travel prevalent in the album, featuring a beautiful illustration of an open road.

Westside Cowboy – It Goes On

Clementine Schneidermann photographed the cover for Westside Cowboy’s debut album It Goes On, capturing a striking and unusual image centering a horse planted on the lawn in front of two high-rise council flats in Leeds.

L’Rain – Fata Morgana

The visual identity of Fata Morgana was developed by two artists: photographer Clifford Prince King and designer GENG PTP. The artwork centers the close-up imagery of two hands holding a crystallised plant striving to outgrow its fossilised form.

Eden Aurelius – Entre Nous

The hazy, pastel pinks and soft clouds that define the imagery of Entre Nous were created by contemporary artist Lucas Dupuy.

As we welcome the darker, moodier months, there is no better time to revisit the more unsettling dimensions of Romanticism. Depicting supernatural nightmares and apocalyptic landscapes, here are five paintings that scare and startle as we step into autumn.

Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare (1781)

Few paintings capture the territory between dreams and reality quite like Fuseli’s 1781 oil painting The Nightmare. It shows a sleeping woman lying sprawled across a bed while a demonic incubus sits on her chest and a ghostly horse emerges from the darkness behind her. The painting caused a sensation when it was first exhibited at London’s Royal Academy in 1782.

Francisco Goya, Witches’ Sabbath (1797–98)

Francisco Goya brings us into a sinister gathering of witches surrounding a large black goat, a figure traditionally associated with the devil. Currently held in the Museo Lázaro de Galdiano in Madrid, Witches’ Sabbath was painted during a period in which the artist was increasingly exploring superstition and irrationality.

Caspar David Friedrich, The Abbey in the Oakwood (1809–10)

A winter funeral procession makes its way through a cold landscape towards the ruins of a Gothic abbey, framed by twisted oak trees. Friedrich’s haunting scene brings together two recurring Romantic preoccupations, namely, the overwhelming presence of nature and a sharp awareness of human mortality.

Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa (1818–19)

There are no supernatural monsters in Géricault’s monumental painting originally titled the Shipwreck Scene. Instead, its horror comes from a real event: the 1816 wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, after which survivors were left drifting on a makeshift raft. Géricault transforms the scandal into a haunting scene of desperation.

John Martin, The Great Day of His Wrath (1851–53)

John Martin takes Romantic spectacle to apocalyptic extremes in The Great Day of His Wrath (also called The End of the World). Inspired by the biblical Last Judgment, the painting visualises mountains and cities collapsing as tiny human figures flee below. Humanity appears powerless against such forceful, inevitable destruction.

Surrealism never quite lost its grip on the public imagination. There’s much to love about an art movement built on dreams, the unconscious and the strange logic of things that shouldn’t quite fit together. Here are five places across Europe where you can acquaint yourself with the movement up close, from the museum Dalí built as his very own surrealist masterpiece to the quiet Brussels apartment where Magritte painted for over two decades.

Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres

The Dalí Theatre-Museum is an absolute must-see. Dalí conceived and designed the museum himself on the remains of his hometown’s former theatre, so the building serves as the artist’s largest surrealist work of art. The museum’s collection runs from his early experiments through Surrealism to his later career, including spaces created specifically for the museum such as the Mae West Room, where arranged art pieces and furniture form an optical illusion of the actress’s face.

 

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Magritte Museum in Brussels

An essential one on every surrealism aficionado’s list. The Magritte Museum in Brussels holds the world’s largest collection of René Magritte, with over 230 works and archival objects spanning paintings, drawings, sculpture, photographs and film. Prepare to witness wonderful masterpieces including The Return, Scheherazade and The Empire of Lights. The museum also offers an explanation as to why Brussels became such an important centre for Surrealism outside Paris.

 

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René Magritte Museum in Brussels

Yes, another Magritte stop – but not the same museum. This one occupies Magritte’s former home at 135 Rue Esseghem, where he lived and worked from 1930 to 1954. His ground-floor apartment has been reconstructed to evoke the space in which he worked, while the rest of the museum traces his life and career through artworks, photographs, letters and other documents.

 

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Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice

Notably, this collection encompasses broader movements than just Surrealism, but Peggy Guggenheim assembled an exceptionally important group of Surrealist works. The collection includes artists such as Max Ernst, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Yves Tanguy and Alberto Giacometti; currently listed works include Ernst’s Attirement of the Bride and Magritte’s Empire of Light.

 

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Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona

Set on Barcelona’s hill of Montjuïc, the Joan Miró Foundation holds an extensive collection tracing the Catalan artist’s long career. Miró became closely associated with the Surrealists in Paris in the 1920s, but never fully confined himself to the movement, developing a distinctive language of dreamlike symbols and abstraction that can be explored at the museum.

 

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Artists have always found inspiration close to home, and sometimes that inspiration has four legs and a tail. Here are four artists who transformed their adorable animal companions into works of art.

William Hogarth and Trump

William Hogarth gave his beloved pug Trump a starring role in his 1745 artwork The Painter and his Pug. While the artist appears in a portrait within the painting, Trump sits proudly in the foreground. The National Gallery suggests that the dog’s famously stubborn character may have been intended to echo Hogarth’s own.

Rosa Bonheur and Fathma

Few artists lived alongside animals quite as much as Rosa Bonheur, whose home was shared with horses, dogs and even lions. Her lioness Fathma became one of her artistic subjects, appearing in several works from 1859 onwards and giving the celebrated animal painter an unusually close opportunity to study the species carefully.

Gwen John and Edgar Quinet

Cats appear frequently in Gwen John’s work; one of her most cherished ones was Edgar Quinet, named after the Parisian street where she lived. He is thought to be the cat depicted in several of her works, including Sketch of a Seated Cat (c.1904–08). When Edgar disappeared, John was sincerely affected by the loss and even wrote poems about him.

Edvard Munch and Fips and Truls

Edvard Munch’s later years were shared with several dogs, including Fips and Truls, who found their way into his art. The pair appear alongside Munch in self-portraits from the 1920s, and Fips can also be found in earlier sketches. It’s certainly a gentler side of the artist best known for The Scream.

September brings the start of a busy autumn season across Europe’s art world, with gallery weekends and design events experiencing an exciting moment. From Berlin to Barcelona, here are five artsy cities with something worth exploring this September.

Berlin — Berlin Art Week, 9–13 September

Berlin Art Week returns for its 15th edition, bringing together around 120 museums, galleries, collections and independent spaces across the German capital. The programme spans exhibitions, performances and other cultural events. Meanwhile, Kulturforum is hosting a free festival meeting point throughout the week.

 

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Brussels — Brussels Art Week, 10–13 September

Brussels’ galleries kick off the new season together during the city’s annual Art Week. Running across four days, the event puts the focus on the Belgian capital’s contemporary art scene, with galleries and cultural spaces welcoming visitors for exhibitions and tours around the city.

 

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Paris — Paris Design Week, 10–19 September

Paris Design Week returns with ten days of exhibitions and installations across the artsy city. Running alongside Maison&Objet, the programme brings established names and emerging designers into galleries and showrooms throughout Paris.

 

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Barcelona — Barcelona Gallery Weekend, 17–20 September

Barcelona Gallery Weekend brings together 25 contemporary and modern art galleries across Barcelona and L’Hospitalet. More than 50 artists feature in this year’s programme, accompanied by performances, guided gallery walks and temporary exhibitions created specifically for the weekend.

 

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Vienna — viennacontemporary, 17–20 September

Austria’s international contemporary art fair returns to Messe Wien for three days in September. Bringing galleries from Austria and abroad under one roof, the fair maintains a focus on contemporary art from Central and Eastern Europe, offering a helpful snapshot of the region’s current art scene.

 

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What happens when the artist steps out from behind the canvas and into the painting itself? Across centuries of art history, some of the most celebrated works have hidden a subtle signature: the artist’s own face. Here are four intriguing examples.

Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait (1434)

The iconic oil painting on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck has more in store than first meets the eye. Pay attention to the convex mirror behind the couple. Reflected in it are two additional figures entering the room, and the inscription above reads Johannes de eyck fuit hic (“Jan van Eyck was here”). Notably, scholars still debate whether one of the reflected figures is definitely Van Eyck himself, but the intriguing possibility has helped make the mirror one of the painting’s most discussed features.

Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi (c. 1475)

In Adoration of the Magi, the far right of the crowded biblical scene presents a blond-haired man in a yellow-ochre robe who turns away from the action to look directly at the viewer. Most art historians agree that he represents Botticelli himself, placing the Florentine painter among the witnesses to Christ’s birth.

Raphael, The School of Athens (1509–11)

Amid Plato, Aristotle and the great thinkers of antiquity, Raphael slipped in a familiar Renaissance face: his own. Glance towards the far right and you’ll find a young man in a dark cap staring directly at the viewer. Raphael also borrowed contemporary faces for some of his ancient philosophers, most famously giving Heraclitus the features of Michelangelo.

Michelangelo, The Last Judgment (1536–41)

Michelangelo’s appearance in the Sistine Chapel’s Last Judgment is darker. Saint Bartholomew holds his own flayed skin, and the distorted face hanging from it has been understood to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo. Why he depicted himself this way isn’t known for certain. Several art historians have interpreted this depiction to be a reflection of Michelangelo’s inner torment and doubt regarding his own salvation on Judgment Day.

The National Gallery has launched an open call for the third year of its 200 Creators Network, inviting 50 UK-based content creators to take part in its digital programme for 2026–27. The initiative encourages creators working across subjects beyond the traditional art world, from fashion and history to food and travel, to develop new ways of engaging audiences with the Gallery’s collection.

Last year’s programme generated more than 10.8 million views and 260,000 engagements across social media. Participants included photographers, BookTokers and mudlarkers, and four Creative Collaborators worked directly with the Gallery on original content. The upcoming edition will again offer four paid opportunities worth £4,000 each to selected members of the Network.

The new cohort will begin with an out-of-hours event at the National Gallery on 30 November, followed by exhibition previews and events throughout the year. Applications are open to UK-based creators until 27 September 2026, with the Gallery particularly interested in bringing perspectives from communities that may not ordinarily consider themselves connected to art.