2015 in exhibitions - painting still rules

The New Year is a time for reflections as well as resolutions. So here is one of mine. In the art world, media and fashions come and go, but often what truly lasts — even in the 21st century — is painting. Over the past 12 months, there has been a series of triumphs for pigment on canvas, including the glorious Veronese exhibition at the National Gallery, and a demonstration by Anselm Kiefer at the Royal Academy that we still have painters of towering stature among us. What will 2015 hold?

Well, as far as painting is concerned — both old master and contemporary — there are some extremely promising items. As the year ends, Rembrandt: The Late Works — as eloquent a case for the power of the medium as could possibly be made — is still running at the National Gallery (until 18 January). Those who miss it here or would like a second look might consider popping over to Amsterdam to see its second incarnation at the Rijksmuseum: essentially the same exhibition but with several additional masterpieces slipped in (12 February to 17 May).

Meanwhile, London may be forgetting about Rembrandt and succumbing to Rubens-mania. That at least was the hope being expressed in the great man’s home town of Antwerp when I was there a few weeks ago, and one that is doubtless also shared at the Royal Academy where Rubens and his Legacy: Van Dyck to Cézanne is on show from 24 January to 10 April.

During his lifetime and for centuries after his death, Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was both hugely successful and vastly influential (far more so, for example, than Rembrandt or Vermeer). In the past few decades, however, his star has sunk in the old-master popularity ratings. Can it rise again? We shall soon see.